Family Issues
by VampireMoony
Summary: Reposted with new content! What if Voldemort hadn't been hit with the Killing curse that night? What if he took Harry to raise as a dark heir? Explore a different perspective of the story and what could have been, all seven years. Bad summary, just read!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello, everyone. Vampire Moony, here! Just to let you know I AM NOT PLAGIARIZING this story from ShadowThestral. That was my other account on here, and I kinda forgot the password. Anyway, this will be the new Family Issues. I will take the original chapters, and add a little more here and there. I will release a chapter a week. I have already started on the chapters following where I originally ran short. So, replace your original links, and get ready for some reading!

Disclaimer: I always forget to put these in my other story, and I'm sure you've read enough of them to know I don't own Harry Potter or any of the things you see in the books. I'm sure I'll put some original stuff in which I'll own, but not right now! Some lines in here are from the third book.

Chapter 1: Green Eyes meets Red Eyes

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October 31, 1980

"Group A, get ready to begin the distraction," hissed the ice cold voice, "Group B, wait for the signal... Now!"

The Deatheaters in Group A quickly spread out through the little village of Godric's Hollow, setting fire to the houses and shops. They stunned and cursed anyone running out of their houses and were in such a large number, they looked like a mass of darkness descending upon the poor little town. The villagers were easily being contained since they had attacked after most had gone to sleep, but the size of the force was mostly meant to fight the Aurors that would no doubt show up soon.

"Group B, follow me and prepare for a fight!" shouted the voice again, and the Deatheaters left behind quickly headed towards the largest estate in the area. Lord Voldemort led the group himself, keeping to the shadows, so their presence would not be discovered until it was too late for Portkeys and Apparition. Too late for the forces of Light to realize the Deatheaters were not all in one group.

The grounds were extremely large and lush in appearance and style, as any respectable pureblood estate should have been. Lovely willows with low hanging branches were littered off the sides of the well-kept flowerbeds, and if one looked closely, they could just make out a little swing hanging from a large yew tree near the back of the building. The building itself seemed to loom tall and intimidating from the shadows, a beacon of light to hopefully be extinguished soon.

Lights were quickly being thrown on inside the house; they knew the Deatheaters were there.

"Alohamora!" shouted the head Deatheater, quickly stepping inside the house and just as quickly being taken down by a Stunner. The Dark Lord let the rest of the Deatheaters pile through the front door before stepping inside himself. He could just hear voices from the first landing.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-"

He heard end tables and objects of fragile nature being knocked over and assumed she was running further away from the fight. He just let out a high- pitched laugh of grim amusement. So they wanted to play cat and mouse, eh? No matter, not for them in the end, anyway.

"Come on out, Potter," he whispered as he signaled his men to hold their fire, "Come out and face me stiff-backed and proud, the way your father died."

A tall, thin man with black, messy hair and fierce hazel eyes stepped out from the alcove he had been shooting spells from and raised his wand, pointing it at his opponent's heart. If that was not the way to get a Gryffindor's hackles raised… it worked every time.

"Nicholas Potter was a better man than you'll ever be, you poor excuse for a wizard!"

The older man laughed again, and said in a low hiss, "Let's find out how well he taught you then, James Potter!"

Meanwhile, Lily was racing through the house to Harry's nursery on the third floor. They had just been enjoying the evening in, and finally put Harry down to bed when she thought she had heard noises. Lily remembered standing next to James at the window and watching the village being lit by grim fires, wondering how many more would die in this horrible war. Then they had left Harry when the wards alerted them to the presence of people wearing the Dark Mark. Her heart reached out to her son.

'Oh, God, let Harry be safe tonight!' she prayed.

She burst through the nursery door just as a flash of bright, green light filtered through the stairway, making her stop dead. They got James. They got her husband. They got Harry's father... Harry! She ran over to the closet in the room, grabbing the emergency Portkey they had set up for an occasion like this, tripping over various toys on the floor in the darkness. But when she tried to activate it, it felt no more magical than any one of Harry's magical toys. Cold shivers ran up her spine; they had cut off her only means of escape. She could hear the voices reaching the third landing, coming down the hallway...

Lily ran in front of Harry's crib as the snakelike man walked into the room, flicking on the light switch next to the door. He beckoned one of the Deatheaters behind him forward.

"Take everyone downstairs and wait for me. This shouldn't take long, Lucius."

"Of course, my Lord." Lucius Malfoy gathered up the Deatheaters and they descended back down the stairs. The Dark Lord known as Voldemort turned his red eyes back on the red haired, green eyed woman standing in front of her sleeping son. The man had to give her credit, like all the mothers he had killed. They cared naught for their lives, but would stand to protect their children against a force that could make fully-trained Aurors soil themselves.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" she pleaded. "He's no threat!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside, now..."

She shook her head while her entire body shook, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-"

The cold man simply raised his wand to meet her chest, "Stand aside and escape, or I'll simply have to kill you first!"

"Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy..."

The man simply laughed in a bemused way and watched through a flash of green light as the lady fell to the floor as though a rag doll, lifeless. He then turned his attention on what lay inside the crib.

The baby boy named Harry Potter was just waking up, blinking bright, emerald green eyes through a mess of unruly, black hair, and in the costume of a black cat. Those inquisitive eyes looked up at this odd stranger with the red eyes who was looking down at him, slightly smiling. Well, the baby could see nothing wrong with a smiling person, and smiled back, cooing and burbling at this red- eyed man. Voldemort, eyes slightly widening in surprise, chuckled slightly as little Harry Potter pulled himself up with the bars of his crib so as to see the man better.

"Yes, hello there, child," said Voldemort. "My name is... Tom."

The child screwed up his face in concentration, and then looked up at the man, "Tom."

Voldemort chortled again, pulling out his wand, "Very good, Harry. My name is Tom, and I'm here to send you to where your father and mother are now. I wouldn't leave a thing like you to be lonely, not an intelligent little creature like you." The wand tip began to glow faintly. "Do you like magic, Harry? Look into the light and go to your mother and father." He softly whispered, "Avada Kedavra."

After the dust settled and the light was gone, one could just see the Dark Lord, back pressed against the window, and a now crying Harry Potter. The man just looked at where he had been, right where the green light had been a moment before. He thanked himself for keeping up such good reflexes, and turned his attention toward the crib, walking slowly to it in astonishment. Voldemort just looked down at this small, bawling infant, amazed. How had this child blocked the Killing Curse? It was impossible for such a tiny thing! He knew that even with all the precautions he had taken against death, he would still have been ripped from his body.

Harry, rubbing his eyes and opening them, saw the red- eyed man and slowly his crying turned to sniffles. Through his black fringe, a livid mark rather like a lightning bolt stood out, slightly bleeding.

He raised his arms up as though to wanting to be picked up and again managed, "Tom."

And "Tom" couldn't have been more torn. Here sat before him an enemy to the dark and evil, a child of an opponent. He had killed so many before him with hardly a thought. What made this boy so special as to escape Avada Kedavra? Tom could clearly see the power this child had, a power he could harness. All he had to do was take the boy and raise him in the ways of darkness. A powerful heir. He had to leave; he could hear the Aurors and main force of Deatheaters reaching the end of their battle. He had to decide.

Reaching down into the crib, he picked the tiny Harry up, green eyes meeting red. He pulled out his wand, whispering, "Sleep now." After sending the baby into a spell- induced sleep, he wrapped the child in a conjured blanket of black silk and headed downstairs, setting things on fire with his wand as he went.

"Deatheaters, meet back at the base!" He touched his own Dark Mark on his wrist giving a warning to the fighting ones outside. In a swish of cloaks, they were gone.

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"Lord, I must advise against it!" said Lucius Malfoy quickly, bowing his head in respect. "Everyone will be looking for him when they don't discover a body! It is not safe!"

"Crucio!"

Lucius' screams filled the living room of the base. It had been only a half hour since they had left Godric's Hollow, and he had just informed his followers of the recent development of Harry. He explained his ideas of raising this obviously powerful child into an heir as dark as he. 'A good thing Severus got caught in the attack, the little spy,' thought Voldemort. 'He would have immediately told Dumbledore. Oops, forgot about Lucius.'

He took the curse off of the blonde man and watched as his minion returned once more to a bow at his feet. With all that screaming, it was probably best Harry's bassinet nearby had a Deafening charm on it, as least for now.

"I am keeping the child, Lucius. However, taking into account your thoughts of the search that will take place, certain precautions will be made." Precautions he had already planned to take, anyway, that he had planned while settling Harry down back at their base. "The child will be placed under a Glamour Charm to change his appearance until such a time his appearance won't matter, and he will always be kept under supervision if he is to leave the house for any reason. Suspected spies will not be told of the child's true identity."

Lucius looked up at his master and nodded, "Of, course, my Lord."

Voldemort looked suddenly thoughtful and spoke after a minute, "Lucius, you've recently had a child, is that correct?"

Lucius looked startled at the question, "Why, y-yes, my Lord, a boy whom Narcissa named Draco. Quite a number of us have recently had children."

"Good, good. Harry will have company of his own age eventually. Of course, that's another thing to take care of once the time comes; he cannot be called Harry in public. I shall think of a name and suitable appearance. It seems, my Deatheaters, that this war shall be won by us yet."

Little did they know that people were already searching for Harry...

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"Hagrid! Please help me! I've got to get through! I've got to get James and Lily and Harry out! Let me go! I have to help!"

The large man named Hagrid, though crying himself, continued to restrain the young man in his arms. He had been told to keep the entire crowd back, but the lad in his arms was taking all his strength.

"Calm down, Sirius, calm down."

Sirius managed to get out his wand and Stun Hagrid before anyone could stop him, however, and ran into the smoking rubble that was half an hour ago his best friend's house. He burned his hands as he dug through the rafters and plaster, tossing aside everything he picked up, desperately searching for anything. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and turned quickly to look into the face of his other friend, Remus Lupin, looking heartbroken and more worn than the full moon two nights ago would leave him normally.

"Sirius, it's too late," the werewolf sighed, slowly pulling Sirius up.

"No!" cried Sirius through sobs, "No! It's not too late! We can find them, and they'll be okay!"

Voice cracking in anguish, Remus continued, "They just found Lily and James' bodies ten minutes ago, Sirius; they're gone…"

"Then Harry! We can't leave him in the rubble! We can't leave him!"

Remus just let out a choked sob as he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to his friend, "They found this near Lily. They... they never found his body..."

Sirius looked down at the little baby blanket he had given Harry for his birthday, the one that had been covered in black dogs with blue eyes. It was supposed to protect Harry like Sirius would, but now, as he looked at the slightly charred blanket and a crying Remus, he realized he hadn't been there for Harry, and he'd never get the chance again...

It gave the two Marauders no happiness or sense of justice when Peter Pettigrew had been sentenced and convicted of betraying the Potters. They never once moved as Pettigrew was dragged off to prison by two hooded Dementors calling for their help. They didn't feel any sort of despair when the search for Harry was called off. They didn't feel anything, and it was with heavy hearts that they retired to Hogwarts, not to be seen outside its walls even as the dark hand of Lord Voldemort gently reached across the land.

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A/N: Yes, I know, depressing end. Don't yell at me! Sirius and Remus are my two favorite characters, and I would never ship Sirius off to Azkaban! Next chapter will be a lot of fun and lifting of the heart. Oh yeah, please review so I can hear your opinions and thoughts. It does help! Thank you!

(November 17, 2003)

EDIT: So, what do you guys think? I basically just went back through and filled in a little more detail or emotion. It won't make the already-short chapters much longer, but then I don't mind shorter chapters. Much easier to read in my opinion.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Chapter 2, yeah!

Chapter 2: A Birthday

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Almost 10 years later...

The man known as Lord Voldemort sat in his brightly lit library, discussing Hogwarts with his liason, Severus Snape. The Dark Lord, shortly after what was referred to by history as the "Godric's Hollow Tragedy," had eventually driven himself into privacy, putting most of his Deatheaters into an inactive status and allowed the Ministry and Dumbledore to think they'd defeated him. Not that anyone had theories as to how. Of course, this was not true at all; Voldemort simply knew that the raising of his heir came first.

He had, over the years, infiltrated the Ministry itself with his loyal followers and even now were changing things to their favour. He liked to keep in touch with Snape now since he wasn't having to play spy for the light, and the Potions Master kept him up to speed with the runnings and teachings at the wizarding school. He was just dazedly looking out into the library's small garden through the open doors when two blurs ran into the room, stopping to a halt after seeing the two men gazing at them amusedly. Then the smaller boy shouted, "UNCLE SEV!"

Poor Severus barely had a chance to move before a young boy tackled him on his seat, pinned down by the embrace given him. Voldemort just chuckled at Severus' situation and finally called the child off. "Now, Erebus, we can't leave Hogwarts without a Potions professor, can we?"

The boy just stood next to his companion and said, "Well, it's so rare that Uncle Sev ever comes over anymore, isn't it true, Draco?" The pale boy next to him nodded his head, smirking.

As the Dark Lord sat in his chair and looked at his "son", he still grinned in delight at how well the Glamour Charm and everything worked out. The boy, while still slightly small and skinny for someone his age, was almost entirely muscle from constantly running around. His disguise came with white hair and red eyes, eyes just like the own man's. Draco and Harry, along with almost every Deatheater and Deatheater child, understood Harry's alternate name and appearance around certain people, and being the mischievious beings they were, considered it all to be a game. It was going to end soon, however.

"Well," said Severus, ruffling Harry's- er,- Erebus' hair, "I couldn't miss seeing Erebus on his birthday, now could I?"

The boy's eyes lit up, and his whole face shone with delight. "It's my birthday? I must have forgotten with Draco being here the week!"

Draco just shook his pale head and said, "Really, how anyone forgets their own birthday is beyond me!" This comment earned him a playful punch in the arm.

"Well, Erebus, I just came by to drop off your present before I head back. I daresay you'll get your letter any minute now. Happy birthday!"

Erebus opened the lid off the box and looked in amazement at a gorgeous cloak. It was a pristine, silver spidersilk cloak with an inside lining of emerald green. Two clasps were included: one a charming little onyx snake with a white-gold eye, the other a small, white-gold skull. Harry could see when they fitted together they would become his father's symbol and crest, the Dark Mark.

"Thank you so much, Uncle Sev!" exclaimed the eleven year old, pulling it on and fastening it. "I'm going to wear it at the Sorting Ceremony just for you! Make sure to look for me!" And with a hug and a wave, he and Draco disappeared out the library doors into the garden again.

"Well, my Lord," said Severus, bowing, "I shall be back to Hogwarts and wait eagerly to teach Erebus. Goodbye."

"Just remember, Severus," said Voldemort, as the man left, "Look past appearances and stay true to your heart." He chuckled as he thought of what he had just said. Perhaps raising a child could soften even a creature like himself.

Harry was thoroughly enthusiastic as he waited for his Tom at the main fireplace of the chateau they lived in. He had just gotten his letter half an hour ago, and today would be his first day to Diagon Alley, his first place in the public eye that was magical. Tom had always said that because of who he was, it was dangerous for him in the wizarding world. Harry knew it had something to do with his parents, but he found it didn't matter too much to him; after all, even if Tom did kill them, Tom didn't kill Harry. 'He raised me well and gave me everything I ever needed without letting me get spoiled and arrogant. I'm lucky to have Tom.'

"Well, are you ready to go or what, child?" called Tom, holding out a pinch of Floo powder.

"Coming!"

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As Harry fell through the fire of the Leaky Cauldron, he was amazed at what he saw; everywhere were witches and wizards. He'd never seen so many, not even at Tom's full Deatheater meetings. He had barely time to view this, however, because as soon as Tom came out of Flooing, he hurried Harry along out a back door and into a little back alley. He brushed off both of their cloaks, matching black velvet. He put Harry's hood up, as well as his own.

"Why are you keeping your hood up, Tom?" asked Harry, looking at the man as Tom pulled out his wand and counted bricks.

"This world is dangerous for both of us, Erebus," he replied and tapped one brick three times, and a large hole grew in the wall revealing a whole new world to Harry.

If he thought there were a lot of wizards and witches in the Leaky Cauldron, then he wasn't even sure how to classify how many were in this crooked street brimming with magic. Everywhere he looked as he walked along with his guardian there were fascinating things: pet shops, joke shops, an apothecary, a shop for wands, and a large book store he was sorely wanting to explore. Instead, Tom led him to a large, white marble building. If he remembered from one of the books he read, it was called Gringotts and was run by goblins.

Following close behind Tom, they came upon a free goblin who looked down upon them from over the counter.

"May I help you, sirs?" it asked, fiddling with a galleon in one hand.

"Yes," said Tom, "I'd like to go down to the Riddle vault. Here is the key." He drew a small silver key out of a pocket in his robes and handed it to the inspecting goblin.

"Yes, yes, everything is in order. Quamen! Lead these two sirs to the Riddle vault!"

Out of nowhere, a tall goblin appeared and escorted them through a door next to the counter. One wild cartride later, Harry giddy, Tom slightly green, they arrived at a vault deep under the ground. Both stepped into the vault and took quite a bit before getting back in the cart.

"Shouldn't I be getting money for school from the Potter vault, Tom?" Harry asked once out of Gringotts and back to the bustling street.

"You can next year if you wish. I need to get rid of money. I do seem to have a bit too much, don't I?" said Tom. He took Harry over to a robe shop. "We might as well get your robes as they're closest. Come on."

A slight tingle of a chime was heard as they entered the little shop, and Harry didn't have to wait long before a kind, plump lady came out.

"Have you come for school robes?"

"Um, yes," said Harry timidly. He wasn't used to speaking to anyone outside of his father's circle. The lady seemed to find it adorable, though, and had him stand up on a stool. Hardly ten minutes later, she was done sizing him and duplicated his robes.

"Is that all, dear?" said the kind Madam Malkin.

"We're just going to look at some cloaks and non-school robes, thank you," said Tom courteously.

"Well, just call for me when you're done looking." And she disappeared into the back of the shop.

Harry had a fun time looking through cloaks and robes and finally decided on getting dark colours, which suited him when he wasn't under Glamour, a fine deep crimson, a forest green, and a deep royal blue of each; he already had quite a few black clothes . They rang out of the shop after paying and stepped out onto the street, just barely avoiding a whole crowd of redheads.

Harry managed to get all of his school things relatively well, Tom shrinking the bags and Harry putting them in his pockets. He finally got Tom into the bookshop where he bought not only his assigned books, but quite a few others on many subjects, but most on the Dark Arts. Tom disguised those books at the register so as not to arouse suspicion, of course.

All that was left was a wand, but they weren't heading towards Ollivander's. They were heading towards a dark alleyway quite apart from cheery Diagon Alley.

"Where are we going?" asked Harry as they slipped under a signpost that read "Knockturn Alley".

"Don't you want a familiar?" replied Tom, slightly arching an eyebrow and gesturing towards a small pet shop off the corner. He just chuckled as Harry took his hand and dragged him into the shop.

"Why, hello!" said a familiar voice from behind the counter.

"Mr. Nott, I forgot you ran this shop. I was just going to get young Harry here a familiar for a birthday present," said an amused Tom, finally taking down his hood since they were alone in the shop.

"Well, is that right?" chuckled Nott, bowing slightly to his master and then going over to the boy, "Well, young master, what would you be interested in?"

"A snake if you have any!" exclaimed Harry, and following Nott's finger, ran over to the snake section to converse with the little creatures while Nott spoke to Voldemort.

"My Lord, are you going to take off the Glamour for when he goes to school?"

Tom, smirking, said, "Yes, I am, and I only wish I could see the old headmaster's face when they call Harry's name up to the Sorting Hat."

"And you're going to let him wander around telling everyone he's your son? Wouldn't that be risky for you, sir?"

"I'm depending on him to. The ultimate revenge. The boy who was supposed to be their little favourite raised by their enemy, and the child loves him. Ohhh, so chilly an idea."

"Could I have this one?" asked Harry, holding up the snake. It was a lovely thing, barely a foot long with black scales so shiny they captured the light and two little silver eyes, and all around its head were tiny spikes like a dragon, which seemed to flex around its head as though in a slight wind.

"Ah, a fine choice, young master. That's a rare one indeed, an Ebony-Crested Dragon snake. Such rare beauties, especially ones this young. Tell you what. Consider this a little birthday present from me, okay? I won't take your money here!" said Nott. Harry just thanked him and petting his new friend who had found a place around his neck under the cloak, Tom and Harry both headed back to the main street.

"Let's get your wand and go home for some dinner, okay?"

Harry nodded happily, and they quietly entered the little wand shop. Harry slightly trembled at the feeling of so much raw magic in the air. Out of the shadows minutes later appeared a man with large silver eyes.

"Well, hello, my young sir, here to get your wand, I presume? Let's get right to it then. Which arm is your wand arm?" he asked getting out a small tape measurer.

"I-I can use either hand, sir," replied Harry. This startled Mr.Ollivander somewhat, but Harry didn't put much thought into it. When the measurer was done, the old man started pulling out boxes. Harry tried wand after wand, but all felt cool in his grasp.

"Let's try this curious one, then. Holly and phoenix feather, 11 inches."

The instant Harry took it, he felt a wave of power like he'd never known. Papers all over in the room blew through the air, and the air was lit up with blue and silver sparks. The old man took the wand from Harry and wrapped it up for him, saying something about curious circumstances.

"What's so curious, if I may ask, Mr. Ollivander?" said Harry, turning to the old man.

"Well, young man, I was wondering who I was going to be giving this wand to. The core of this wand came from a phoenix who gave just one other feather. That other feather resides in You-Know-Who's old wand. Quite powerful, that one. I never should have sold it."

"Sorry again, sir, but who's You-Know-Who?"

"Why, the Dark Lord, young sir, the evil one who disappeared eleven years ago shortly after the Tragedy of Godric's Hollow, Lord Voldemort."

Harry gave a mischievious smirk and took his wand from Mr- Ollivander. "Well, thank you, sir. Have a good day!" And together Tom, Harry, and Harry's new familiar left for home.

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A/N: Yeah! Harry's so cute! Could you imagine what Severus would do to Harry if he called him Uncle Sev in the books?! Harry would probably not come out of it so well. Oh, and you're going to find out more about Harry new familiar next chapter. We're heading to school, and many a head is going to turn!

(November 17, 2003)

EDIT: No comment, just added a few things here and there, and fixed a few grammatical problems.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Yeah! Onto Chapter 3!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize except Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes.

Chapter 3: A Train Ride of Laughter

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The day of September 1 came all too quickly after the visit to Diagon Alley, and Harry was up at the crack of dawn packing all his new things in his trunk, his young familiar keeping him company, its spikes perked up in curiousity watching its young master running around his room.

"Will you be leaving me here while you go to school, Harry?"

Harry looked over at his small friend, saying, "Of course not, little Amelia, I would never do that."

Amelia just nodded her head, telling him to wake her up when they left, before she curled up on a pillow. Harry just shook his head, chuckling, as he placed all his new books on top of his neat stacks of clothes. He was done! He was packed! He was going to Hogwarts! He could hardly contain himself as he ran downstairs for breakfast. Tom was now sitting at the large table, being served by one of the numerous house elves in the chateau. An elf came over to Harry, asking, "Would young master like any breakfast this morning? After all, young master is leaving for school, he is! He is needing a good breakfast!" And before Harry could get a response in, the elf had disappeared into the kitchens.

Tom looked over his paper at his excited charge. He remembered being like this long ago in the orphanage, eagerly awaiting for the car that would take him to King's Cross. He pulled out his wand and took off the Glamour Charm, revealing black hair where there had been white, green eyes where there had been red. An eleven year old Harry Potter sat in front of him, looking slightly confused.

Tom sighed and laid down his wand. "Harry, we can no longer hide you behind a Glamour Charm and a false name for school. From now on, you shall be just Harry Potter. When you go to school, you shall be just Harry Potter, no matter whether your friends call you Erebus or not. Do you understand?"

Harry slightly looked down at the plate of food that just arrived and grinned a little.

"That's all I ever want to be." And with that they ate breakfast in companionable silence.

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King's Cross station was especially crowded this morning as the two figures tried to reach the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. Muggles were everywhere, not to mention the fairly conspicuous amounts of wizards and witches. There were twenty minutes left before Harry had to be on the train, but both wanted to get there early so Harry could get a compartment with Draco. They arrived at the same moment as a bunch of redheads did, and Harry realized these were the same ones from Diagon Alley he had almost run into outside of the robe shop.

"Come on, let's join their party," said Tom from under the hood that hid his red eyes, dark hair slipping around his shoulders. "Oh, and try to cover up the clasp of your cloak; these people are still Light supporters. Hurry along, now!"

The person Harry assumed to be the mother was lining up all her boys in a single file with their trolleys, and Harry watched in amazement as the oldest boy, a prefect from the look of his badge, ran right into the barrier and disappeared. He was shortly followed by a set of twins, only leaving the mother, a young girl, and a boy that looked to be about his age, tall and lanky with the family's red hair.

Tom walked over to the lady and seemed to be politely talking to her about something, leaving Harry with the tall redhead.

"Hello, my name's Ron Weasley. What's yours?" asked the boy named Ron.

Harry grinned widely and said, "My name's Harry. Nice to meet you. Were those all your brothers?"

Ron seemed to groan slightly, "Yep. The older one's Percy, and the twins are Fred and George. Watch out for those two; they're quite a duo of pranksters."

"Thanks for warning me!"

Right about then, Tom and the mother came over. The lady seemed to be looking at Harry fondly; Harry nervously covered the clasps of the cloak Severus had given him.

"Well, dear, it looks like you're going to join our party for a bit. My name's Mrs.Weasley."

Tom ruffled Harry's hair and said, "This is where I have to leave you, Harry. You know about that issue I have with too many people being in one area; my nerves are already shot from getting this far." Harry saw Tom give him a little wink. "Mrs. Weasley here will be kind enough to make sure you get through the barrier and onto the train, alright?"

Harry smiled and nodded his head. "See you later, then!"

Harry snickered as Tom swept up Mrs.Weasley's hand, kissed it on the knuckles, and thanked her before disappearing into the crowd. Mrs.Weasley looked quite flustered as she supervised the boys going through to the hidden wizarding platform.

The crowd was even worse on this tiny platform, parents waving goodbye to their children, animals of all sorts running underfoot, and the large scarlet steam engine puffing. However, it wasn't hard to spot his friend's white-blonde hair through the crowd.

"I spotted one of my friends; his dad will make sure I get on the train. Thanks for escorting me Mrs. Weasley!" He began to run off when Mrs. Weasley called him back, smiling gently, "Dear, I never got your full name."

Harry's face burst into a wicked grin; she'd be the first. "It's Harry Potter. Bye Mrs. Weasley!" He never saw her shocked face, instead running up to Draco with his trolley, his friend greeting him. His father was smiling with what looked like pride in seeing his son off to school. Lucius enchanted their trunks to be feather light, and thanking him and saying goodbye, they picked up the trunks and found a free compartment.

Harry saw Mrs.Weasley speaking frantically with some of the other parents on the platform through the window, and their faces of shock through the compartment window. The train pulled off, whistle shrieking and white clouds of steam and smoke billowing out as the clock rang in eleven. They were moving! They were going to Hogwarts! It would be the longest time he had ever spent away from Tom.

"Hey Harry," said Draco, after the train had been moving for about ten minutes, "Why are you not under Glamour?"

"It's time to finally reveal myself to the world. No more white haired, red eyed Erebus. Just call me Harry."

The train was full to bursting with students, and the two boys found it quite lucky their compartment had been left to them. After Harry and Draco bought several pasties and Chocolate Frogs from the nice lady with the cart, they sat down and discussed what they thought school was going to be like and describing things they had heard. (Both doubted that it was guarded by dragons and trolls ran loose in the grounds.) Amelia was roused by their boisterous voices and stuck her head out of Harry's shirt collar, silver tongue flicking to test the new surroundings.

"Are we at school yet?"

"No. We're on the train to school. We should be there in a couple of hours."

She slithered out onto Harry's lap and curled up into a ball on the cloak he still wore. Harry knew she, like all snakes, had a fondness for napping in nice patches of sun like the one pooled on the material. A few minutes later, a girl came in with bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth. She seemed flustered about something.

"Sorry to bother you, but have you seen a toad anywhere? A boy named Neville has lost his."

Harry just smiled and replied, "Sorry, we haven't seen any toads around here."

She sighed and smiled, "I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. Hermione Granger, a pleasure to meet you..."

"Oh, this is Draco Malfoy, and I'm Harry Potter." He watched in amusement as she turned pale.

"But you can't be Harry Potter! I got extra books for background research, and they said you and your family were killed in the Tragedy of Godric's Hollow!"

Draco laughed as Harry cut in, "That's where you are wrong, Miss Granger. They said my body was never found. Someone took me out of that house before it collapsed, let me assure you."

"But, but," she said, grasping at straws. "But they said You-Know-Who killed your parents and came after you!"

Harry laughed again. "He did indeed, and I still have the scar from where he hit me with Avada Kedavra." He lifted his fringe to reveal a faded lightning scar. "But as you can plainly see, I'm right here." Hermione just stared at him, and backed out of the compartment, saying something about looking for Neville's toad elsewhere. After she left, Draco and Harry burst out laughing again.

"You know, Draco, I'm really going to enjoy telling people if I always get reactions like this!"

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The train finally pulled into Hogsmeade station that evening, and the two friends barely managed to get off the crowded trains with their trunks. (Amelia had wrapped herself around Harry's neck again so as to be able to see everything.) They left their trunks on the platform and made their way to a booming voice coming from over their heads, "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

They stepped into the light of a lantern and saw a humongous man towering over them. His hair was wild and he had a rough beard, but Harry could see the warmness shining in this giant's eyes.

"Hello! My name's Harry, nice to meet you!" he said to the man who looked down. Indeed, the man was a warm person and held out his hand to shake Harry's whole arm.

"Nice ter meet ya! Rubeus Hagrid, keeper o' keys and grounds here at Hogwarts! Jus' call me Hagrid!" He turned away and looked at all the little first years, all slightly shivering despite wearing cloaks. Harry adjusted his own slightly to block an imagined draft, and Draco nervously straightened his robes next to him. Hagrid motioned for them to follow them down a steep path of dirt and at the end they reached a massive lake, and off in the distance...

"It's Hogwarts!" whispered Draco, for once in his life awestruck, and Harry couldn't blame him as he pulled him into one of several tiny boats. They were followed into theirs by Blaise Zabini, a rather pretty girl with silver-streaked ebony hair and violet eyes. And with a little lurch, the boats headed out onto the still lake as one, eventually being thrown into Hogwart's shadow and pulling into a small dock connecting to the school. Everyone climbed out and followed Hagrid up to a pair of large doors after handing a toad to a round-faced boy Harry assumed to be Neville. He then knocked on the door as they all watched in apprehension at what was to come.

A tall lady in flowing, embroidered robes of velvet appeared through the doors, surveying the students with a keen eye. Draco and Harry both got the feeling not to mess with that witch. She began to speak.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, first years. I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor house. There are four houses..."

But Harry wasn't listening anymore; Tom had already told him all about houses and points and the House Cup. It was some of the only information that Tom had given him. Instead, he straightened himself out and stroked Amelia's head absentmindedly, getting a contented hiss in response.

"Now, if you will just follow me, please, and we will sort you into your appropriate houses."

"Harry, let's get near the back," whispered Draco and falling back, they followed the rest of their fellow years into an enormous entrance hall and straight into what had to be the Great Hall with the enchanted ceiling shining brightly with the full moon out and stars glittering. Yes, Harry had managed to read bits of Hogwarts, A History without falling asleep.

They came to a halt in front of the rest of the school, their backs to the staff table as Professor McGonagall placed a ratty old hat on a stool in front of them..

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'Where is Erebus?' thought Severus, searching the backs of the new students, 'Did he miss the train? And who's the black haired kid in that cloak standing next to Draco?'

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A/N: Yes, I'm mean, and I'm going to make you wait until next chapter for the Sorting. Bwahahahahahahaha! coughs Shouldn't do that when I'm sick... Anyway, check back for updates and don't forget to review!

(November 18, 2003)

EDIT: How funny I should be sick again for this chapter. That is the delay of this chapter for a week, but since I'm feeling generous, I'll probably release Chapter 4 in the next few days.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Just to let you know, my days are numbered. As soon as my snakeaphobe friend Amelia reads the last chapter she will kill me. Let the little mortal girl try. hehehe

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter except Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes and Amelia.

Chapter 4: A Shocking Sorting

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McGonagall held up a long scroll of names after the Sorting Hat was finished with its song, and began to read out names, several nervous first years slipping the hat on their heads. For most people, the hat shouted their house quickly, like Draco. The hat didn't even touch his head before it shouted out "SLYTHERIN!" Harry quickly gave Draco the thumbs-up as his friend joined the Slytherin table. He hoped he could join Draco; Tom had said both his parents were Gryffindors. Was it possible?

The names went on and on, and more and more students from the line vanished. It was odd he hadn't been called yet. It seemed alphabetically sorted, but why had Ron been called just now? He gulped as he was the only one left standing as Blaise Zabini got put in Slytherin house.

Harry ran over to Professor McGonagall, seeing her about to take the Sorting Hat away. He had to actually move in front of her to get her to pause. He felt it would have been ruder to tug on her robes.

"Wait! You didn't call me! I haven't been Sorted yet, Professor!"

McGonagall looked down at him, an odd look in her eyes. Well, it was not an occurrence that happened, a student not getting called.

"Were you supposed to be on the list, young man? You did get an invitation here, didn't you?"

"Of course! May I see your scroll, please?" He searched through the names until he came across a crossed out name: Potter, Harry. Harry turned the parchment back around so she could see.

"There I am! Why did you cross my name out?" he asked the Professor, showing her the name. The child watched her turned paler and paler.

"This can't be possible!" she muttered, looking into his face again, into his eyes, which he knew he had gotten from his mother. She could remember no other person having those eyes apart from Lily Evans. He could see the astonishment on her face as she turned and walked back to the headmaster, whispering quickly. The old man's eyes, which seemed to twinkle, widened ever so slightly as they roamed over Harry. Harry was distracted by someone, though.

Quickly the boy walked over to stand in front of the Potions professor who stared at him in shock.

"Uncle Sev?" Harry whispered leaning closer. The entire hall was buzzing with mutterings and moans of hunger.

"Where'd you get that name, boy?" asked Severus, eyes widening slightly. Only one person ever called him that, and Erebus never had this boy as a friend.

Harry just chuckled. "I figured you wouldn't recognize me without the Glamour Charm." He pointed at his cloak, at the clasp. "Does this look familiar to you?"

Severus, stunned, voiced, "E-Erebus?"

"That was just an alias for me until now, Uncle Sev!" He held out his hand. "My actual name is Harry. Harry Potter. Glad to finally be able to tell you!"

Severus just looked at the black haired boy in front of him. It had to be Erebus. He had specially made that clasp for him after one of his own from years ago. Yet here was a boy that was the spitting image of James Potter with Lily's eyes. But it had to be Erebus; this boy was speaking the truth.

Dumbledore leaned down the table to look at Severus. "Severus, if we may have young Potter so he can be Sorted?"

"Yes, of course, headmaster. Go, Erebus."

Harry walked back over to McGonagall, who was now looking as though she were to burst into tears , and they walked over to the stool and hat. She said in a loud, choked voice.

"Potter, Harry!"

Harry sat down on the stool and put the hat on his head. It fell over his eyes so he couldn't see the hundreds of students staring and pointing at him. Then he heard a tiny voice in his head.

"Hello, Mr Potter. Come back from the dead, have we?" chortled the hat.

Harry grinned mentally and answered, "You have to be dead to come back from that. I never was in the first place."

"Clever lad. Let's see. A great deal of book smarts. More than I've seen any first year come in with. You would do Ravenclaw proud with your intellect. Yet... you have a great deal of power and ambition. You seek to make your caretaker proud of you more than anything. You have a great deal of Gryffindor courage, it's true, but you only use it after careful thought. Not a brash Gryffindor. Ravenclaw or Slytherin? Where shall I put you?" A moment, then...

"SLYTHERIN!"

There was no applause for him as he sat next to Draco and across from Blaise, just an increase of hushed voices. Amelia peeked out from his collar at the crowd, and Blaise gave an amused chuckle, the first noise anyone had heard from her all night.

"Is that your snake, Harry?" she asked, her voice rich and silvery.

"Yes, her name's Amelia and she's an-"

"Ebony-Crested Dragon snake." She laughed quietly at Harry and Draco's astonished faces. "My father breeds and raises rare snakes. Nice to meet you two."

She turned up toward the head table as Dumbledore stood up to address the Hall. He gave the usual notices and sent the students off to bed after dinner, watching as Harry had sat talking quite happily with Blaise and Draco.

"Mr. Potter, if I could have a word?" called Dumbledore. Harry slowly came up to the headmaster who was smilng at him. He conjured Harry a seat in front of him, and Harry sat down in front of the staff, feeling as though he would be interrogated for information.

"I just wanted to ask a few questions, Harry."

He was right. He was getting interrogated. He smirked; this would be both fun and interesting. From what he knew, Hogwarts was the center for Light supporters, apart from Uncle Sev, of course.

"Well, Harry, I might as well get this one out of the way: where have you been this entire time?"

"I've been living with the man that took me out of my parent's house that night when it was destroyed and my parents killed," he said quite simply.

"Who was that, Harry?" he prodded. All the professors were now focusing him.

"Tom."

"Tom who?"

Harry looked rather irritated, "Tom. Oh, what is it you guys call him, uh, You-Know-Who? I myself just prefer Tom rather than Voldemort, though. He dropped me off at the platform today. He's so nice to me."

By this time, every member of the staff was staring at him in horror, apart from Severus who merely looked bored, and Dumbledore who looked…. Calculating? He leaned in towards Dumbledore.

"Um, can I go, Professor? I really would enjoy a bit of sleep before classes tomorrow. Perhaps finish this interrogation sometime in the future?"

A flash of light from Harry's cloak distracted the old man. "Where did you get that clasp?"

Snape froze in shock, though he concealed it. He knew Dumbledore knew Severus had made one exactly like it years ago as a spy. He couldn't be revealed now.

Harry just looked at the clasp and looked up, gesturing nonchalantly as though waving the question off. "This is something Tom's had for quite a while. Picked it up during one of his raids many years ago and gave it to me this summer. Isn't it lovely?" He could tell from the disappearance of an angry light in the headmaster's eyes that suspicion was directed away from his uncle.

"You're, ah, free to go then, Harry. Professor Snape will walk you down to the Slytherin common room."

"Thank you headmaster. Shall we go, Professor Snape?"

Severus stood up and walked out of the Great Hall with Harry following him. He only spoke once outside the common room entrance, a blank stretch of wall with a smear of what looked like blood.

"Erebus, I'd like to thank you for covering up the clasp. It could have cost me dearly."

Harry grinned. "I'm not Erebus anymore, Uncle Sev. I'm Harry Potter and always have been. And don't worry about the clasp. A Slytherin watches his fellows' backs, don't they? You always were my favorite, Uncle Sev, even if I knew you were a spy in most respects. Good night!"

And the young boy slipped through the wall, leaving a befuddled professor behind.

"Hey Draco!" Harry yelled throughout the crowded room, seeking out his friend and laughing, "You should have seen their faces when I told them Voldemort had been watching me all these years! It was brilliant!" The entire common room went silent at his words, and he scowled at them all. "What? Never heard his name before? Come on, Draco, I want to get some sleep."

Draco, smirking at the stunned faces, led him up the narrow stairway to a door saying "First Years" and stepped inside after the blonde. Harry found his trunk in front of a bed next to Draco's, four posters of green and silver lining the room. He quicky slid into pajamas and slipped into the bed, Amelia curling up under his pillow. It had been a long day and tomorrow would be even longer.

Meanwhile...

"Thank Merlin it was a full moon tonight!" whispered Minerva to Albus, looking up at the Great Hall's ceiling where the moon shone.

"Yes, Remus and Sirius could have made that a lot harder."

"Sholdn't we tell them before Harry walks into their class tomorrow, though?"

At this, Albus smiled. "Let them have a surprise. Goodness knows it will shock them out of this 10 year stupor. It's going to be an interesting year, Minerva."

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A/N: Shocker ending! Yes, Remus and Sirius teach at Hogwarts jointly, and boy, are they in for a surprise! Meanwhile, Harry has just yelled to the entire Slytherin common room he was raised by Voldemort! Is the entire school going to know next morning, or will the Slytherins keep their mouths shut? Just to let you know, I am very Pro-Slytherin. Not that I have anything against the other houses or anything, even if I do call my friend a "Stupid Gryffindor". Blah blah blah.

Read and review!

(November 18, 2003)

EDIT: No real comment, other than I am glad a fan of the story has found this reposting of it. )


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I'm getting good at remembering these! Harry doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I only own Amelia and Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes. Oh, and I do use some of the same techniques Rowling uses with some fun lines I always enjoyed, so please don't sue me!

Chapter 5: Staring Teachers and Grinning Dogs

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"Hey, you see that Harry Potter?"

"Yeah, the one that was supposedly dead?"

"Do you believe the rumours about You-Know-Who?"

"He's a dark wizard, he is."

Harry was at breakfast, and already he was being hounded by people coming over to ask him questions, and while he did enjoy the looks on their faces, it was starting to grate on his nerves. Mainly because they all thought he was supposed to be some great Light wizard. Amelia peeked out from under Harry's sleeve, and he gave her a small bit of sausage. He turned to Draco and Blaise sitting across from him as they sat at the end of the table furthest from the staff.

"Hey, Draco," he said, pointing up towards the staff table, "Do you know who that sickly guy is? He keeps looking at me."

Draco paused from his porridge, looked up at the guy in question, and shrugged as the man looked away. "No idea. Harry, lots of people are looking at you; I mean, you have announced to a prominently Light supporting school you were brought up by Voldemort. He may have heard about it."

Blaise looked interestedly at both of them as they talked, and her eyes rested on Harry when they stopped.

"What's he like, Harry?"

Harry just smiled. "He's a very nice person to me, Draco, and a few other Deatheaters. Of course, he keeps up his badass image in front of the main group, but inside, he is a completely different person than what these people say."

"Well," said Draco, starting on his porridge again, "You can't change what they've been brought up to believe."

Breakfast had ended, and everyone went off to their lessons, Harry and Draco looking over their identical schedules with Blaise.

"Let's see. First off is Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Draco as they now took the staircases up a floor.

Harry looked puzzled. "Defense? Why do you need defense against them?"

"They'll need to know it if they want to protect themselves from Voldemort and his Dark Heir!" said Draco dramatically, albeit loudly, causing everyone to stop and look at the little first years.

Harry got Draco and new friend Blaise to start walking again. "Really, Draco, we need to stop doing that so often."

"But it's so much fun!" he laughed as they stepped into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room.

"Yes, I agree it's fun," Harry sighed, sitting down right in the front with Blaise and Draco on either side, "But it will make us late for class!"

As the other first years found their way here, Harry looked around the room. There were many Dark things in here, he could feel them, just as Tom had taught him to do.

_"Just because they're Dark like us, it doesn't mean they won't attack you."_

Perhaps this class wouldn't be so bad.

He looked up at the teacher, who was again staring at him again.

Maybe not.

"Draco, he's looking at me again."

Draco laughed and pointed, "I think his dog likes you, as well!"

Harry looked down at his lap, where a large black dog with bright, blue eyes rested its massive head on his knee, staring intently into his eyes. This dog was giving him the creeps, he thought, standing up. He placed his hand on the dog's shoulder and guided it past the teacher to a large basket that had to be its bed. He spotted something in the large basket, something that looked oddly familiar...

He didn't even notice the dog growling at him as he picked up a small, slightly burned blanket with dogs just like this one stitched on the fabric. Images flashed through his head...

_A man with shoulder-length black hair was playing peek a boo with him on the floor..._

_A slightly sad looking man was smiling at him while reading a bed time story..._

_Both men giving him a blanket just like this one..._

Harry felt the blanket fall out of his loose grip as someone pulled him back. It was the professor, and the man now stood between Harry and the dog.

"Sorry, Professor," Harry said dazedly, quickly shaking the images from his head, "That blanket just looked so familiar. I could have sworn..."

The man just smiled at him as the dog put the blanket back in the basket and glared at Harry. 'Is that even possible for a dog to do?'

"It's quite all right. My dog Snuffles is just protective of that blanket. Go sit down; class is about to start."

Draco snickered at Harry as the ebony-haired boy sat down, looking embarrassed.

The teacher now came to the front of the room. The man, though still good-looking, had a worn appearance about him. His face was rather gaunt, and his light brown hair was slightly streaked with grey. His eyes were smiling, though, as he addressed the class.

"Well, welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Slytherin and Ravenclaw first years!"

Harry swore he heard the dog snort at this comment.

"My name is Professor Lupin. This year, we will be covering some mild curses and hexes. If you all could get out your books while I take attendance, please."

There was a small amount of shuffling and whispers as they pulled out their defense books, and sat quietly after as Lupin read off the students' names, finally getting to Blaise. Harry groaned as he realized his name would be missing from attendance rolls in every single class. At least the other professors knew he was here.

Professor Lupin looked up, smiling, and asked, "Is there anyone I've missed?"

Harry sighed and raised his hand, "You've forgotten me, sir."

Lupin looked at him and perching his quill over the roll to write down Harry's name, he asked kindly, "And your name?"

"Harry Potter, sir."

All that was heard was the sound off a quill hitting the floor as the Professor looked him up and down, face wrought in confusion and... was that amazement? Harry didn't know, but the sound of his name even seemed to grab the dog's attention, who was now staring at Harry and... was that dog grinning?!

"Well, class, um, ah, yes!" said Lupin, regaining his composure. "Let's get started then. Open your books to page 10 while we discuss the general criteria of what makes any spell Dark."

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"Well, Transfiguration couldn't have been more awful," said Blaise as the three walked out under the eye of McGonagall towards dinner.

"That's only because you couldn't change your match into a needle!" smirked Draco as they leisurely walked down the main staircase.

"If I recall, Draco, you seem to have had difficulties as well," said Harry, getting a grateful grin from Blaise and a mock-sneer from Draco.

"Just because you had to be all perfect. Who has ever seen a first year Transfigure the match to a needle by the second try? I ask you!" grumbled Draco, sitting down and giving himself a piece of chicken while Harry ate some fried potatoes.

"You know Tom taught me magic as best he could without giving me a wand, and I read all those books."

"Do you like to read, Harry?" asked Blaise, her silver and black hair catching the light of a lit torch.

"Well, yeah, I love to. You see, Tom never really let me out of the chateau much, so when Draco wasn't there and Tom went for business trips, my only company was the house elves and the books."

Blaise gave him what looked like a sympathetic look before returning to her dinner, which made him slightly uneasy; he hated sympathy. And over her shoulder he saw the red-headed Ron stalking towards him, a mixture of fear and anger in his face, and Draco watched as Harry closed his eyes in silent rage. All day people had been asking him questions, even to the point where Harry missed lunch because no one would give the boy a moment's peace.

'This isn't going to turn out well,' thought Draco, watching Ron tap Harry on the shoulder.

"Are you really-"

Harry's last nerve of patience snapped. The fuming boy stood up and faced the Hall full of people now watching him.

"I will answer all of your questions now!" Harry shouted to the quiet students and staff. He noticed Lupin and his dog were watching him with special interest. "Yes, I am Harry Potter! Yes, the Harry Potter that supposedly died in the Godric's Hollow Tragedy! Yes, I've seen Voldemort! Yes, I was raised by him! And no, I can't explain what he's like because none of you would believe me! Ask Ron if you want to know what he looks like!"

Ron got fearful at this and shouted, "How would I know what he looks like?!"

Harry ground his teeth and yelled, "Because you saw him quite plainly when he dropped me off with you and your family!"

Harry snorted in dissatisfaction, sitting back down to his dinner, and watched as Ron was surrounded by students while walking back to the Gryffindor table. And all Gods, would Lupin and that dog stop staring at him?!

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Later that night would find Remus, Sirius, and Severus all sitting down in an empty classroom with Silencing Charms set up so no one could eavesdrop. Severus watched his two old classmates' faces, both pale and mouths hanging slightly open. He could just see a tiny blanket in the mutt's hands.

"Well..." started Severus, hoping to stir them to action. He had to go grade papers.

"Why didn't anyone tell us before classes started?" asked Remus. Sirius seemed to be off somewhere else entirely.

"If I remember correctly, the headmaster wanted to give you a surprise," Severus sneered, folding his arms.

"And Voldemort raised him? Voldemort's still alive?"

"Yes, Voldemort raised him. He finished off Potter and Lily, but he failed to kill the boy with Avada Kedavra. He barely dodged it, and the boy was left with that scar on his forehead. After that, he simply placed Erebus under a Glamour Charm-" He instantly realized it a moment too late he had said too much, and Sirius launched towards him, knocking him against the stone wall heavily.

"You knew!!" growled Sirius.

"Sirius!" said Remus, but Sirius just turned to look at his friend.

"He knew! He knew this entire time! He knew Harry was alive and never told anyone!" He grabbed the greasy haired man by the throat threateningly, saying, "Why shouldn't I just kill you now?"

Severus sneered, "Because I didn't know it was Harry, Black!"

"How could you not know?" asked Remus, looking genuinely interested. "He looks exactly like James and has Lily's eyes. How could you not know?"

"If you were listening," scoffed Severus, "I've already said the boy had been placed under a Glamour charm, and he had a false name. I knew him as Erebus, the son of the Dark Lord. And if you want to know-" he paused to grin horribly at Sirius "- he absolutely loves me. He adores his Uncle Sev."

When he woke up, Severus realized they had left him alone and on the floor on the old room. He laughed and rubbed his sore cheek, "Of course, I knew that punch was coming. Black always has such a bad temper."

And the Potions professor left the room, heading towards the Hospital Wing to get the bruise fixed.

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A/N: It seemed like a good place to stop. I love Severus, but I felt Sirius would come to blows; besides, Sev was just asking for that punch, wasn't he? How will Remus and Sirius handle all this new information? Will Harry still be bugged, or did his outburst at Ron help alleviate the problem? Find out next time!

Read and review!

(November 19, 2003)

EDIT: Still sick, so not many changes. I'll also start posting the other story I'm working on up as I feel like it.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Harry doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I only own Amelia and Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes. Oh, and I do use some of the same techniques Rowling uses with some fun lines I always enjoyed, so please don't sue me! I need all the money I can get for my student ambassador trip!

Oh yeah, Parseltongue will be signaled by "..."

Chapter 6: "Salazar's Vengeance" and Halloween Mysteries

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The first week of school went surprisingly fast for Harry and his friends. Harry found all of his classes interesting, from Charms to Transfiguration to Herbology, he loved them all. He was with more children his age than in his whole life and was extremely happy.

Not to mention he was making more friends. Against Draco's words of caution, Harry had been speaking quite frequently with Hermione Granger from the train and the Weasley twins Fred and George. Hermione was quite a nice person, if a bit bookish by most standards,, and they never ran out of topics to talk about and study. After her initial shock on the train, she had said she had wanted to find out more about him, and Harry was happy to find someone outside of Slytherin who was actually interested in him as a person. Fred and George had congratulated Harry on thoroughly confusing Ron after Harry's outburst at dinner that first day, and they were always interesting to speak with, to put mildly.

Today was Friday and according to his, Draco's, and Blaise's schedules, Potions. After the bell rang signaling the end of lunch, those three almost ran to the dungeons and were the first there. In fact they were ten minutes early. Professor Snape came in shortly afterwards, and Harry jumped up at the sight of him, or rather his face. His cheek was quite swollen and purple and could only be quite painful, as the man flinched as he gingerly touched it.

"What happened, Uncle Sev?" Harry asked in a horrified tone, feeling it safe to use the informal name since no one else besides his two friends were there. The addressed Professor turned around and faced the voice.

"I was having a row with Lupin on Monday night and that damned dog of his knocked me over and into a desk."

"Why didn't you go to the Hospital Wing, Professor?" asked Blaise, violet eyes showing concern.

Snape just laughed bitterly. "Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, said if I let myself get into a fight, I'll just have to let it heal the Muggle way." He had been too busy getting classes in order to brew salves of his own.

Harry sneered, "That's rubbish!" as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at his professor's cheek while muttering a healing spell. He turned to the man and asked, "Why didn't you just use a healing spell?"

Snape felt his now normal cheek. "I've never been good at any spells in the way of healing."

Harry sat down next to Blaise and Draco as the rest of the Slytherin and Gryffindor first years filed into the classroom. Severus seemed to take his anger out on the Gryffindors, though the only reason it bothered Harry was that Hermione didn't get the points she deserved. Ah well, no other professor in this school seemed particularly keen on the Slytherins; they had to have at least one professor on their side, right?

Dinner had come, and Harry, with Draco's help, had devised a plan to get back at the two that had caused their favourite professor's swollen cheek. It was discovered that as all he did in his childhood was read, the Dark Heir known as Harry knew quite a few nasty charms and hexes. Half of dinner passed before the two started on their plan.

Harry pulled his wand out very carefully, not needing to be noticed by anyone. He took careful aim at Lupin first, and when the man wasn't looking, fired. Then, as quickly afterward, shot the well-placed curse at the bear-like Snuffles under the staff table.

Ten minutes later, Snuffles and Lupin were itching horribly at themselves, and their noises of horror brought the entire Hall's attention to the two, and the Slytherins burst out laughing while Snape hid his own impulsive laughing by drinking from his goblet.

Lupin and his dog Snuffles were completely covered in snake scales from head to toe, Lupin silver and his once black dog green. All hair and fur had disappeared, and each had slits for pupils.

In the cover of their housemates' laughter, Blaise asked Harry where he had gotten that curse and how long it would last. Harry just laughed.

"Tom used to use it when he made public appearances as Lord Voldemort. As for how long it lasts, they'll be stuck like that for a the weekend. I decided to show a bit of mercy as it was their first offence."

"Harry?" said Blaise.

"Yeah?"

"Remind me never to piss you off."

Harry and Draco laughed even harder and watched the snake man and snake dog quickly run from the Hall. Little did he know he was taking after his biological father in a pranking sense.

-----------------------------------------

After the event that was quickly named "Salazar's Vengeance", the castle seemed to get back to order. It was Halloween day, and three Slytherins were playing a game of Exploding Snap at their house table, waiting for the feast to begin. However, something, or someone, was missing from this picture.

Walking over to the Gryffindor table, he found Ron.

"Hey, have you seen Hermione? I haven't seen her all day."

Ron just shifted uncomfortably, but a giggling girl down a few spots replied.

"She's been in the girls' bathroom ever since Charms, crying. She won't come out."

Harry thanked the girl named- wasn't it Lavender Brown?- and sat back down next to Draco.

"Honestly, Harry," said Draco, "Why do you care about that-"

"Don't say it, Draco," warned Harry. "I care because she's a friend. Yes, I know she's a Muggleborn, but even Tom has respect for them if they're really intelligent like Hermione."

Blaise looked uncomfortable during this conversation, but Harry didn't notice as his attention was currently focused elsewhere. Draco watched as Harry tilted his head, glancing up through the ceiling and eyes slightly unfocusing in concentration.

Harry knew something emitting Dark magic was in the castle. He could feel it. The boy stood up, and signaled the other two to stay at the table. It would look suspicious if they all left. No one noticed him leaving but three beings in the room, and they left by a side entrance.

Amelia hissed as Harry stepped out into the main hallway and looked around.

"What's wrong, Harry?" she asked, coiling tighter around his wrist.

Just then a student ran past him and to the feast. As Harry took off tracking the feeling of darkness, he heard the kid yell, "Troll! Troll in the dungeons!" and the resulting panic. He scoffed.

He knew there was no troll. This was only a distraction; he doubted that kid was anything more than an illusion. His feeling was becoming stronger, and he realized where he was. He was beginning to run down the third floor towards the forbidden corridor. Dumbledore had warned against this corridor at the welcoming feast, but still... wait! There! There at the door! A figure was stepping out of the shadows!

Harry pulled his wand out and quickly yelled, "Stupefy!" Harry thanked Tom for forcing him into archery as a child as the spell hit the target dead center in the back. The ebony haired boy quickly ran over to the stunned man and pulled him over to see his face... only to meet a stunned Lucius Malfoy.

The boy turned hurriedly around. People were coming up the stairs towards the third floor. He turned back to Lucius and whispered, "Enervate!", watching the man regain consciousness and look at Harry.

"Young Master?" Lucius asked as Harry helped him up. The people were coming closer.

"Yes, it's me. Question is, what are you doing here?" said Harry, pulling the man back into the shadows he had appeared from.

"The Dark Lord sent me here on a mission to retrieve something."

Harry looked at the man suspiciously. "What does he need from Hogwarts he can't get anywhere else?"

Lucius looked around anxiously as he too heard the footfalls now. Muffled voices carried toward them from the stone pathways.

"Go! Now, Lucius!" Harry whispered, and he watched the man disappear through a passage obviously hidden in the wall. He stepped out of the shadows, already irritated with the lack of information provided...

...only to meet Severus, Lupin, and Snuffles.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" asked Severus. "You're not supposed to be anywhere near this corridor."

"What does Tom need from Hogwarts, Uncle Sev?" growled Harry.

Severus stole a glance at his companions; the dog, Harry noted, looked about ready to bite Severus, and Harry glared at it. "The Dark Lord hasn't told me of any sort of thing he needs from here."

Harry, quite past the point of irritated and visibly seething, looked at the Potions professor and said, "I shouldn't have expected him to tell you, though, as you still are the spy. Next time you meet with Voldemort, tell him to at least veil the Dark magic coming from the followers; I could feel Lucius from the Great Hall. That will be all, Severus."

Severus, noting Harry's rare but commanding presence, fell to one knee and bowed his head, "Yes, Young Master."

Harry nodded goodbyes to the other two and strode off towards the dungeons, clearly emitting a Dark aura around him. When the boy had gone, Severus stood up and faced a pale Remus and a normal, also pale, Sirius who were both looking at Snape as though seeing him in a new light. Severus sneered.

"You really thought he was fibbing? You really thought he wasn't raised by the Dark Lord? He has been brought up in darkness and is the heir of Voldemort, and therefore our young master. He will never be the Harry you want him to be."

And Snape glided off down the corridor, not even bothering to look back.

----------------------------------------

Harry's mood wasn't much better than the night before. He sat at the Slytherin table, slowly turning his poor waffle into puree, with Draco and Blaise. The rest of the Slytherin house were sitting as far away from him as physically possible, some even sitting with friends in other houses.

"It's not my fault that ignorant fifth year thought it amusing to trip me in the common room after I got back," muttered the dark haired boy to no one in particular. Draco glanced up, amused.

"Yes, but you didn't have to turn him inside out with that curse, now did you?" asked the blonde, arching an eyebrow while the few Ravenclaws sitting near them flinched and moved away.

Harry yawned, breaking his Dark stupor, and lightly said, "Well, he should be feeling lucky Tom hasn't taught me Unforgivables yet, now shouldn't he, Draco?"

Blaise seemed distracted by something in front of Harry, however, that had fluttered down with the post owls. It looked like an owl, but it seemed to be missing its feathers and flesh. Its eyes were a vibrant red from its skull as they stared up at Harry. Harry, however, looked quite happy, not even noticing the looks the bird was drawing.

"Great! Tom's sent me a letter!" said Harry and quickly took the letter from the bird which quietly took off through the rafters. His friends watched as Harry read through the letter and as the boy, in his anger, ignited the parchment.

"What's the matter? Bad news?" queried Blaise.

"He didn't tell me anything I wanted to know! Like, why was Lucius attempting to go through the door to the forbidden corridor, or a reason as to why I shouldn't be worrying about it. Although, he did thank me for 'sending him a message about this matter and how he will try next time to dispense of any signals.'" finished Harry with a bitter laugh. He turned serious again in the blink of an eye, however, and turned his attention toward his sleeve. He quietly hissed to it, and Amelia stuck her head out.

"What do you need, Harry?"

Harry looked around to make sure no one was watching and quietly hissed, "I need you to follow Uncle Sev around, Amelia. Pretend to be his pet or something. Spy on him for me and bring back information that could relate to the mystery at hand, alright?"

"Of course, Harry. I'll see you soon." And with that, she stealthily slid down Harry and out of the Great Hall.

"Be safe," he said and went back to his breakfast.

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A/N: So Tom's trying to get something out of Hogwarts, is he? I wonder what it could be? (Really, if you don't know, I would advise you to finish the Philosopher's Stone before you continue.)

EDIT: So, hurrah, there is Chapter Six again…


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: None here, so tired...

Disclaimer: Harry doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I only own Amelia and Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes. Oh, and I do use some of the same techniques Rowling uses with some fun lines I always enjoyed, so please don't sue me! I need all the money I can get for my student ambassador trip!

Parseltongue will be "..."

Chapter 7: Presents and Mirrors 

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November ran headlong into December, and before anyone at the castle knew it, it was almost time for Yules. Harry was feeling lonely (both Draco and Blaise had left), and was eating his lunch without any special interest as to what it was. The little blonde girl down the table, Pansy, seemed to have taken a liking to him this past month. She was coming over to him, and he made himself promise not to curse her... at least with a wand.

"Hey, Harry, what are you doing down here all by yourself?" she asked with a sickeningly sweet tone that carried across the almost empty hall.

Harry copied her tone and replied, "Well, Pansy, in case it's slipped past your nonexistent brain, the last person who annoyed me was stuck in the Hospital Wing for a week before they could figure out how to put him right side out again. And in case you haven't figured it out by me telling you this, you are getting on my nerves."

She pouted and said, "Really, Harry. That's not a nice thing to say!"

Harry glowered at her. "Go tell it to someone who cares!" before he got up and walked over to sit next to Fred and George.

"Lovely job, Harry," said Fred, patting him on the shoulder.

"That's the little Dark Heir we all know and fear!" said George.

Harry grinned. These were the only two in the school among the students besides Draco and Blaise that weren't utterly terrified of him.

"Why are you two sticking around school?" pointed out Harry, grabbing an apple from the center.

"Didn't want to have to deal with Percy and ickle Ronnikins all break," they replied, mock-shuddering. "Why aren't you with Tom? Surely you could have gone home?"

"Well, Tom is currently researching some sort of new twist on Cruciatus. He said it wouldn't be that pleasant if I came home just when human trials were to start," said Harry conversationally, taking a bite from the apple as the twins just grinned. Harry really thought they had been adopted by the Weasley's from a Dark couple; it was the only explanation for their love of his conversations of Tom.

"Hey Harry," started Fred.

"We were wondering-"

"-if you would like-"

"-to stay with us-"

"-in Gryffindor Tower-"

"-for break."

"Do you always have to do that?!" said Harry. "Why are you inviting me?"

"Well, Pomp Dragon and Snake Queen are gone. We figured you would want company for the holidays, and what better company could you ask for?" said George, while Harry shook his head at their nicknames for Draco and Blaise. He grinned.

"Why not? I couldn't think of a better way to petrify Gryffindors than to have the Dark Heir sleeping under their roof!"

----------------------------------------

The twins snuck into the first year boys' dorm, snickering as they stood over the room's one occupant, a sleeping Harry Potter. They lifted the buckets of ice water directly over their heads...

... and shuddered as the bottoms of their buckets gave out, soaking them instead, while Harry rolled on the floor laughing.

"Really," laughed Harry, waving his wand in a little explanation, "You two should know not to attempt to trick a trickster!"

"Fine," said Fred, performing a Drying charm on himself and George, pretending to pout.

"We were just coming to tell you about all the presents down in the common room."

Harry instantly woke up, eyes gleaming as they hadn't since coming to school.

"Let's go, then!" And they raced down the stairs to the empty room.

Harry, Fred, and George had quite a good time opening all their presents. Harry got a custom made wrist wand holder from Draco and a book on Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes from Blaise. From Tom he got a small, black wood lap harp. Fred and George had laughed at this until Harry, knowing what the harp could do, started playing a melody to which the twins did whatever Harry thought of. The Dark Woods harp would come in useful.

"Hey, what's this?" they all said at once, all three holding up packages. Fred and George looked at Harry's first and grinned.

"We told Mum about you being our friend, so she must have sent a gift. Oh look! She made you a Weasley sweater!" George said, pulling out Harry's sweater, which was black with two green stripes running horizontally across the chest.

"What are these two packages, though?" asked Fred again. Harry took one glance and laughed.

"Well, I wrote about you guys being my friends, too, so Tom must have sent you something."

Fred and George looked awestruck at the mere idea of the one and only Voldemort sending them holiday gifts, and then as one mind opened their presents. Fred had gotten a book called "The Prankster's Guide to Getting Your Enemies" and George had gotten "You're Caught: Tips and Excuses for Getting Out of Any Mess".

Harry chuckled, "Gods, Tom just had to get you those books, didn't he? Now you two are going to be holy terrors!" He just started to get up when Fred pulled one present from under the tree.

"Harry! You missed one!" He tossed it to Harry and called after him, "Make sure to get down to the Great Hall quick! Breakfast's almost over!"

"Alright!" yelled Harry and dumped his presents on his temporary bed. He picked up his wrapped present. It was very light considering its size. Harry picked up the attached card and read:

Your father left this in my possession before he died.

It is time it was returned to you.

Use it well.

A Very Merry holiday to you.

"Odd, no signature," pondered Harry. He scanned the package for any kind of spell, but the only one that showed up, a tracking charm, was disarmed easily enough, and Harry opened the package.

"Gods," muttered Harry, "An Invisibility Cloak!"

And so it was. It was an entirely smooth fabric of a mesmerising silver, and in his fingertips felt as though made of some sort of solid water. He didn't want to leave it, but he had to go to breakfast. Wrapping all his stuff up in it and making an invisible bundle, he went back down to his own dungeon dormitory. He locked the items in his trunk with a heavy Locking charm ("Alohamora, my foot!") and went up to the Great Hall just in time to watch Lupin and Severus go into an all out fist fight, Snuffles attempting to bite his master's opponent all the while. It certainly was an interesting morning.

----------------------------------------------

The night was quiet after the holiday feast, and everyone in the tower was sleeping off the magnificent food that had been provided. Except for one Harry Potter.

'So this was my father's,' thought Harry, letting the cloak run through his hands and watching them disappear. He had to test it out; he had read too much about these things not to. And so, sweeping it over himself and checking the mirror in the corner of the dormitory, he set off for destinations only known to him and Amelia.

"Shouldn't you be with Sev right now, Amelia?" he whispered as he rounded a corner, quite comforted by her warm weight around his neck.

"He fell asleep reading, so I figured I would report the information you wanted," she said.

"What is it, then?" asked Harry, stopping for a moment behind a statue of some unknown witch.

"He had a conversation with Tom while I hid under his robe sleeve. They talked about a lot of things I didn't know, but he did say the name Nicholas Flamel."

"Flamel?!" started Harry, but he was cut off by anymore conversation from a noise moving through the halls; It was Snuffles, and he seemed to be looking right in their direction.

Harry stood stock still and only one thing was racing through his mind; 'Does the cloak work on animals?!'

Luckily, the dog didn't press the issue any further. It just did one of its odd little grins and trotted off. Harry wiped the cold sweat from his brow and turned into the room right next to the statue to calm himself, which appeared to be an unused classroom if the amount of dirt was any clue. All the materials were up against the walls, leaving most of the floor completely open exempting the few bits of debris here and there. But what caught Harry's attention was sitting in the far corner of the room, placed as though it was haphazardly put there for temporary safekeeping.

"Wow," Harry uttered as he stepped up closer, dropping his cloak and looking around the frame and the strange phrase around the edge: "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi." That didn't make sense, but, Harry thought, if you could switch it around...

"I show not your face but your heart's desire. The Mirror of Erised. It's the fabled Mirror of Erised," he said, stepping closer. He was just about to step in front of it, to find out his deepest, darkest desire, but the creak of a door stopped him. He whipped his wand out of its new holder and spun around, facing a very stunned Lupin and dog.

"Taking a midnight stroll, Harry?" the greying professor asked, sitting down on a desk, his dog at his feet.

"Well Professor, I, uh-" stammered Harry. Lupin just chuckled.

"Come here, Harry. Don't worry, we won't report you. We'd be hypocrites if we did that, wouldn't we Snuffles?"

Harry just stared down at the dog, then back at Lupin, eyebrow arched like Draco, "May I ask why you always take that dog with you everywhere?"

"He's my best and only true friend." The dog's chest seemed to swell with pride at this.

Harry sat down on the desk next to Lupin, looking concerned, "One more question. I've been wanting to ask you for a while, but I've never found the right time."

"Go ahead."

"Why are you always getting in fights with Uncle Sev? I mean, why is there such animosity between you two?"

Remus looked down at the dog with its bright blue eyes, seeming to be thinking of his answer carefully. Finally, he responded.

"It's a long story, Harry. Perhaps a bit too long to tell now. No objections."-for he had seen Harry about to voice his opinion-"Perhaps you'd like to come for tea tomorrow in my office? I'll tell you the story then if you come."

"Thank you, Professor, I will," replied Harry, smiling warmly at Lupin for the first time. He went over to the Invisibility Cloak, pausing only slightly before slipping it on and looking back. Remus waved a hand.

"We won't tell anyone about the cloak, Harry. Your father had us swear never to tell anyone about it, and we continue to honour his wishes."

"You knew my father?"

"Tomorrow, Harry. Good night."

As Harry slipped into his bed later that night, sleep would have to wage a battle between Nicholas Flamel, the Mirror of Erised, Professor Lupin, and all the information he'd find out tomorrow. The war raged on for hours before sleep finally prevailed, making the trip to tomorrow that much faster.

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A/N: Sorry this came out so late! School's been terrible in the way of dumping last-minute projects on before Thanksgiving Break, and I haven't had moment's peace to do anything else. sighs Can I just skip the rest of junior year? I wanna graduate already! Oh, the story..

This story won't be coming out everyday during the next four days; I can almost guarantee my parents will be keeping me busy while I suffer from writing withdrawals grumble grumble. So, how do you think the meeting with Remus will turn out? Do you like the presents? We'll learn more about them later, I personally guarantee it. Anything else interesting I haven't remembered?

(November 23-26, 2003)

EDIT: Not much. mumbles to herself Two more weeks 'til spring break, two more weeks, two more weeks…


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: None here.

Disclaimer: Harry doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I only own Amelia and Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes. Oh, and I do use some of the same techniques Rowling uses with some fun lines I always enjoyed, so please don't sue me! I need all the money I can get for my student ambassador trip!

Parseltongue will be "..."

Chapter 8: Conversations and Bleeding Eyes

-----------------------------------------

Harry made his way down to Professor Lupin's office for tea the next day feeling decisively nervous and more than a little confused about the entire situation. I mean, since when did he care about any information provided from Professor Lupin? Maybe it was because of the holidays? He didn't have anymore time to think about this, however, as he faced the door to the office. He shifted the cloak Severus had given him anxiously and stepped inside.

"Ah, Harry, nice to see you," said Remus, attending to a pot of tea. "If you could just close the door and sit down. Sirius, if you would."

What Harry recognized as a Silencing Charm and Locking Charm hit the door, and he turned toward its origins. There standing in the corner of the room, shoulder- length hair pulled back and bright blue eyes glistening, was Sirius Black. He took a step towards Harry, but the boy just took a step backwards, a look of horror on his face. Remus looked troubled.

"You're going to kill me off, aren't you?!" Harry whispered, backing into the door. "You locked the door so I couldn't get out and placed a Silencing Charm so no one would hear it."

"No one's going to kill you, Harry. Where did you get that idea?," said Remus calmly, motioning to Sirius to stop advancing. Harry just turned wide eyes on his teacher.

"That's Sirius Black, Professor! Black, the Auror! Black, the slayer of so many of Tom's followers. And now he's come to assassinate the Dark Heir! Tom would never have let me spend one extra day in class if he'd known Black was in Hogwarts!"

Sirius looked as though a slap had been delivered to his face, and he went off somewhere while Remus sat Harry down in a seat.

"Harry, Sirius has been at school ever since you've been here, and he has never caused you harm intentionally."

"What?"

Remus sighed and said, "Sirius is Snuffles. He slumped into such a depression after the Godric's Hollow Tragedy, he never wanted to transform back to human form. He didn't want to feel the despair, and his Animagus form doesn't have such a complex emotion. He didn't want to have to feel. I don't even think anyone on the staff knows besides Professor Snape who Snuffles really is; to them, Sirius Black simply disappeared."

Harry looked up, wide- eyed, and seemed for once his own age. Sirius came back into the room, Remus placing a hand on his student's shoulders so he couldn't run. Harry watched as Sirius kneeled down in front of him, face streaked with tears. The man never met Harry's eyes; his focus was on the small blanket Harry had picked up the first day.

"You are Snuffles," the boy murmured. He took the blanket gently from Sirius' hands and let all those images he had that first day flow into his mind as he gazed at the small bit of fabric in his hand. And now he understood what he saw.

"You two are the ones in the images," said Harry, focusing on the two men in turn. "Professor, you were reading me a bedtime story, and.. and you..."- he looked at Sirius, who finally met his face- "You were playing peek a boo with me. You played that for hours with me. And the both of you gave me this blanket. But why?"

"Yes, those people you saw were us. We were dear friends of your parents. Have you seen them at all in your visions?" asked Remus. Harry shook his head.

"No, just you two. These are the only memories I have from before Tom took me."

Sirius let out a small sob and spoke for the first time, "Harry, I swear, I am so sorry I gave up hope on you. I'm sorry for letting others give up hope. I should have kept looking for you. A godfather shood never have stopped looking.."

Harry stood up in shock, the blanket falling to the floor. "You're my godfather? My godfather was an Auror? My godfather tried to kill Tom?... ... You--you were searching for me?"

Sirius had broken into tears again, so Remus spoke, "Yes, Sirius is your godfather, and technically he should have been raising you, not Voldemort. Your father and mother wanted it so. Are you truly happy with Tom, Harry, with being this Dark Heir?"

Harry shook his head as he let his fingers ghost over the Dark Mark clasp and walked away from the pair. He stood sideways at the door, focusing on a spot on the floor.

"I'm sorry that I have obviously caused you two so much grief. However, I was and still am happy with Tom, and I am pefectly fine with being the Dark Heir. Tom took me in as a baby. Sure, he tried to kill me"-he let his hand drift to his scar-" but he didn't keep up the attack. Oh, he could have taken my life so many other ways after the Killing Curse failed; he could have easily strangled me. But he didn't. He took me with him, he defended me from all his Deatheaters. He raised me to be intelligent and cunning, and he let me have Uncle Sev and Draco as friends and confidants. What I'm trying to say," he said, turning towards his Professor and Sirius, "Is that I am perfectly fine with Tom, and I am honoured that he has chosen me to succeed him after he eventually controls the magical world."

Harry turned towards them, one hand on the doorknob.

"I will make sure he spares your lives, if only because of the memories you have given me."

Before Harry could leave, Sirius jumped forward and grabbed his godson's arm and looked up into those emerald green eyes and sobbed, "Harry, please. Don't you even care what he did to your parents? Don't you even care about James and Lily?"

Harry turned towards the door and opened it. "Why should I care so much for people I will never meet or know?"

He thought he heard the soft whining of a dog as he rounded the corner towards Gryffindor Tower, but Harry couldn't feel any emotion while beginning the trek to his temporary dormitory.

---------------------------------------------

Term eventually began again, but it was with a heavier heart that Harry sat with Blaise and Hermione in the Slytherin common room; Draco had already gone to sleep earlier. Hermione was looking around with great interest at the furnishings while ignoring the glares from other Slytherins, Blaise was looking in a particular book which Harry had found, and Harry himself was sitting in an armchair parallel to the fire and playing a melancholy melody on the Dark Woods harp, gazing into nothingness.

"Potter! Will you quit with the harp!" yelled one sixth year, storming up to where Harry sat and yanking the harp from the dark haired boy. Blaise and Hermione didn't even catch the movement, but the next moment, Harry was on his feet, facing the older lad and holding the harp. The sixth year looked stunned, while Harry looked murderous.

"Minuo oculus!" whispered Harry, pointing his wand at the other as a jagged violet light hit its target. The sixth year was crying out in pain as blood poured from his eyes' blood vessels violently, and Harry watched with a most twisted smile on his face.

"Didn't your caretakers ever teach you not to take things that weren't yours, Harling? Have you learned your lesson, or need it continue?"

Unfortunately, the boy passed out from lack of blood before he could reply, which nullified the spell. Harry shook his head, muttering something about fixing that later, sitting back in his chair and beginning to play again. Both Hermione and Blaise watched horrified as the boy Harling regained consciousness after a minute.

"How is it possible?" whispered Hermione to Blaise as the boy struggled to his feet.

"It's Harry's harp. Haven't you ever heard of a Dark Woods harp?" said Blaise, and Hermione went wide-eyed.

"Those are really rare! Not only does it have a power like a lesser form of Imperio when the player wills it so, but it can also reflect the player's mood in relation to weather! How did Harry get one?!"

"It was Tom's present to him, apparently," replied Blaise. "Hermione, you really do sound like an encyclopedia sometimes, you know that, right?"

Hermione never got to respond as Harling and his friends gathered near the stairs to the boys' dormitories, and Harling's friend Perious called across the common room.

"You watch your back, Potter! The Dark Lord won't always be on your side, and you won't always have this high and mighty attitude once he's gone! Watch yourself when that day comes!" and the group stormed up to their rooms. Harry just laughed, stopping his playing, and walking over to his friends.

"Really, those boys should be studying more. I mean, that curse is always so slow, they should have been able to put up a shield easily," sighed Harry. Pulling over the nearest book, he sighed again, "So Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone. And what did you say earlier, Hermione?"

Hermione leaned in and whispered, "When Hagrid went with me to Diagon Alley, he had to pick up a package for Dumbledore. He said it was secret, very secret, and from the way he spoke, it sounded like he was moving the package to Hogwarts for safekeeping. That should be obvious after you discovered that three-headed dog during break."

Boy, had that been an adventure and a half. Harry didn't think that he would ever get Draco from his bed again after the meeting with the Cerberus doppelganger.

"And you think it is the stone?" asked Blaise.

Hermione nodded.

"Yes, I believe it is. The way the thing was wrapped and its size along with the information Harry provided clearly points to it."

"The stone must be hidden in the forbidden corridor. Why else would one of the Deatheaters be trying to get through? But why does Tom want it is what puzzles me," said Harry.

"A stone that turns any metal into gold and makes a drinker of its liquid immortal. Why wouldn't You-Know-Who want it?" asked the bushy haired Gryffindor. Harry just scowled slightly, looking at the harp in his hands, the fire brilliant on the polished wood.

"Tom's already got wealth beyond imagining, and he's already immortal by powers of ancient spells." Harry growled, "I hate that term 'You-Know-Who'. Everyone thinks he's so terrible for wanting power. I'm surprised anyone talks to me considering my relations with him. I'm You-Know-Who-Who-Will-Be-Eventually."

Blaise laughed and asked, "Where did you get that term?"

Harry just shook his head and said simply, "The Weasley twins."

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Well, that explains it. Then again, they're better than Ron. He's constantly complaining about you Harry. 'He's the Dark Heir! Don't go near him, or you'll become Dark too!' Honestly!" She looked at her little watch.

"Well, I need to be going if I'm going to make it to the Tower by curfew. I must admit, this common room is much more to my tastes than the Gryffindor one. Much calmer colours."

Harry smiled weakly, "I feel sorry for you. The entire time I was in there my eyes hurt from the brightness!" All three laughed as Hermione waved goodbye and left. Blaise also left for her dormitory bidding Harry farewell. Soon after, Harry headed towards his bed. Upon entering, Draco, the only one awake in the room, quietly spoke.

"So, how is the mystery coming along?"

Harry got into his night clothes and put his harp inside his trunk, finally locking it with a silent "Obfirmo!" and getting into bed before answering Draco.

"Pretty much solved. We've just got to watch for when Tom or his men come for it and be ready."

Draco rolled over on his side and looked at Harry.

"What about Professor Lupin and Black? What will you do about them? I mean, if Black is your godfather and he steps forward, he can take you away from Tom."

Harry rolled to his back and spoke to the ceiling, "I don't know what to do, and I truly hate it. I don't know what to do to remedy this problem, Draco."

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A/N: Can I ever end on a happy note, I wonder? Sorry these always keep being uploaded so late. My parents want to spend time with me during the day, so I write by night. Oh, and I'm also sorry if the Latin isn't very good. I just find a list of Latin words on the internet and making new spells, so if I'm butcherin the grammar, I'm sorry again.

Minuo- to draw blood, to bleed Oculus- eye

Obfirmo- to bolt, bar

(November 27-28, 2003)

EDIT: May I say I'm SORRY for making you all wait so long? Every time I went to edit chapters it was like –whoo, midterms!- -whoo, Spring Break!- -whoo, school, how exhausting!-. . Can I just get my Psychology diploma already?


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: None here.

Disclaimer: Harry doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I only own Amelia and Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes. Oh, and I do use some of the same techniques Rowling uses with some fun lines I always enjoyed, so please don't sue me! I need all the money I can get for my student ambassador trip!

Parseltongue will be "..."

Chapter 9: To the Third Floor We Go

------------------------------------------

The months left in school blew by with few hitches, and to everyone's chagrin (except Harry's and Hermione's) it was time for exams. Study halls were packed as was the library, and common rooms were unpleasantly crowded. Harry complained about this to Draco as they sat in their usual spots near the fire which was letting off cool air instead of heat.

"I swear, Draco, if anyone so much as asks me for help or bumps me, I'm cursing them," said Harry, looking over an Herbology diagram.

Draco drew up from his Defense Against the Dark Arts book and arched an eyebrow, "Don't you think you've already cursed enough people? I mean, you've filled up the entire Hospital Wing. You're just lucky they've never had evidence." Draco leaned in closer and asked, "How have you done that?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders and said, "Quite simple, if you know what to do. They haul you in to check your wand with Priori Incantatum. Before they do that, you put the spell on your own wand and delete the shadows and such with 'Omitto.'"

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

And off they went on their studying once more.

---

Dear Harry,

I thought I would just wish you luck on your exams. They still do start today, don't they? Severus says you're doing very well in your classes, which makes me proud I must say.

I know you're a smart child, Harry, and I know you've most likely already figured out what I want from Hogwarts. However, please don't go after me. There is always the risk of you getting injured, and I don't want you taking that chance, alright? I daresay I think of you as my own lost son, Harry.

I don't know what's making me write this letter; something just doesn't feel right. Are you also feeling it in your scar? Keep up your studies, both school and Dark Arts, and I'll see you at King's Cross.

Be careful

Tom

"Well, it's happening soon, now isn't it?" said Draco, looking over Harry's shoulder and reading the letter. Harry folded it up and put it in his bag.

"Yes, I suppose it is." He looked around the Great Hall wearily, eyes pausing at the staff table.

"Hey, where's Professor Lupin?"

Blaise looked up at Harry and asked, "Didn't you hear? Dumbledore's sending him off on some sort of study thing. He won't be here to teach anymore."

Harry jumped up and said, "What?!" and ran towards the doors to the Entrance Hall. Draco called after his friend.

"Hurry up, Harry! We've only got a half hour before our Charms exam!"

-

Remus looked up as his office door burst open, and a flushed Harry stood in front of him. In the corner, Snuffles, aka Sirius, shifted in his basket but didn't wake.

"Is it true? You're leaving?"

Remus said slightly startled, "Yes, we are. What did you need, Harry?"

Harry, looking rather embarassed, pulled out two small packages and set them on the Professor's desk as he unwrapped them. Harry gave the first item to Lupin, his teacher's eyes getting slightly wider at the present. A small crystalline figure of a wolf was poised proudly in a small snow globe, amber eyes glinting as snow fell lightly on its back. Remus looked up.

"How did you know?"

Harry chuckled.

"With as much reading as I've done on various Dark subjects, I'd be an idiot not to recognize the signs. Don't worry; I won't tell."

Harry unwrapped the other present and walked over to the basket where Snuffles slept, eyes downcast and spoke barely above a whisper, although Lupin heard every word.

"I know this has been hardest on you, though I really don't know why I care. However, I do care. I care that you looked for me and that you held onto the hope of finding me so long. It's not much, but think of this as a parting present. I hope you'll be able to accept me for who I am one day."

Lupin walked over to the place where his friend lay sleeping after Harry left and felt himself smile in spite of his silent tears. Sprawled over the hulking body of the great black dog was a large blanket, covered with little pictures of black creatures running over its surface.

----------------------------------------

Tests were finally done, and Harry was lying out next to the lake with Draco and Blaise, and a small sleeping Amelia lay basking on his stomach, her job of spying finally finished.

"So Lupin's left, hasn't he? Right after tests?" said Blaise, silver and black hair shining in the bright June sun. Harry just looked out across the lake.

"Yeah, he and Snuffles are gone."

"Sad thing. He was actually a good teacher," said Draco, pulling a bit of robe over his face to block out the sun and get in a quick nap.

"Oww!" exclaimed Harry, pressing at his scar, which felt like it was searing.

"Are you all right, Harry?" his friends asked. Harry sat straight up, looking around.

"It's tonight."

"What's tonight?"

Harry kneaded the scar with the heel of his right hand while saying, "It's tonight. The raid on the forbidden corridor; it's tonight."

"How do you know?" said Blaise, but Draco answered as his friend was currently dealing with an irritated Amelia who had been thrown to the ground when Harry sat up so quickly.

"It's his scar," said Draco. "Somehow he has a kind of link with Tom through it. It was forged when the Killing Curse ricocheted off of Harry's abnormally thick head."

"Hey, I heard that, you prat!" growled Harry. "Stop laughing Blaise! Come on, we've got to prepare for tonight!"

"What do you mean? We're not going down there, are we?" asked Draco, already knowing the answer.

"Of course we are! I'm confronting whoever's down there about why Tom wants the stone!"

"Harry, are you turning toward the Light?" said Blaise, in a mock awed voice. "Are you going to become the Gryffindor Golden Boy and run around spouting off morals and such?"

"Blaise, if you are wanting to help me tonight, you better not push me into cursing you all the way to the Hospital Wing."

"Of course I'm going to help! And so's Draco!"

Draco sat up, straightening his hair which was currently not gelled, and said with a smirk, "Of course! I'm definitely helping tonight!"

Harry smiled.

"Tonight, we three face whatever comes our way!"

--------------------------------------------

They spent the better part of the afternoon practicing spells and getting ready. Blaise pulled her hair back with a silver bandana very Muggle-style along her forehead, and dressed in what apparently was a "commando" army style complete with big commando boots.

Harry, quite amused with the look, pulled out his wand and pointed it at himself while saying, "Vestio!" His clothes almost instantly were transformed into a style like Blaise's, and both turned evil looks on Draco while the blonde backed away.

"No! Please, no!" Unfortunately the boys' dormitory, which was empty except for the three, offered him no help, and his clothes soon resembled the others, this time thanks to Blaise's own "Vestio". He ran his hands along the outfit and glowered at the girl.

"Somehow I doubt the pants are supposed to be this tight!"

Blaise winked and went back to painting her face in camouflage.

"You may as well show off what you have!"

Harry looked sympathetically at Draco and said blandly, "Don't feel so bad, Draco. Look what she did to Amelia, and Amelia's not even going!"

The poor little snake had to be refrained from attacking Blaise. Its scales now made a camouflage pattern and a tiny black bandana was on the hissing snake's head. Harry calmed her down and sent her to hide in the dungeons until one of the three came to get her.

"Well, are we ready?" said Draco.

Harry grabbed his harp and strapped it to his back in a sling he had made for it and pulled the Invisibility Cloak over the three.

"Let's go."

-

The three slipped quietly up to the door of the third floor corridor. Harry quickly unlocked the door, and they stepped inside.

Now, anyone else in this situation might have been completely terrified by the fact that there was a monstrous, three- headed dog between them and a trapdoor on the floor. They might have been petrified by the long fangs that were quite apparent as the three heads growled at the invisible trio. Certainly Blaise and Draco were; Blaise had even stopped her "stealth background music" she'd been making all the way up there. Harry, however, pulled the harp from his back and stepped out of the cloak, playing a slow ballad. The two under the cloak watched as the dog, obviously under the command of the harp, opened the trapdoor with its center head and held it open.

"You two go first," said Harry, still playing. "Remember, keep up your guard; all the teachers have likely put up enchantments if we can trust the information Hermione extracted from Hagrid."

Draco tucked the cloak into a special compartment on his outfit's belt, and the two slipped down into the hole. Once Harry heard them calling him, he quickly jumped down the hole himself, harp cradled in his arms.

The first thing he noticed about his landing was that it was very soft and squishy. He looked around at the other two.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," he heard Draco say from somewhere behind him and quite plainly Blaise yelling, "You idiot! We're being slowly covered in Devil's Snare, and you're HAPPY?!"

"Blaise, how do we get rid of it?" said Harry, as he scrambled to the side of the room not covered in the stuff, putting his harp down on the floor and pulling out his wand.

"You have to use fire, but there's no wood!" she yelled back.

"You idiot!" exclaimed Draco. "Is Harry a wizard or not?!"

"Good point, Draco. Aduro!"

The two caught were quickly released as the plant shrunk back from the fire Harry had produced, and the three rushed out of the room, Harry leaving the harp for fear of it getting damaged further ahead.

-

The next room was filled with the noises of fluttering wings, and the three looked up to see dozens and dozens of things flying around the ceiling. Harry fearlessly crossed the room, ready to blast the little buggers if they should attack and tried opening the door. It was locked, and even his more powerful unlocking charms didn't work. But Draco was watching the things with interest.

"Harry, Blaise, they're keys!"

"What?"

"Those things up there! They're winged keys! I bet you have to catch one to open the door!"

Harry looked back and forth between the ceiling and the door.

"Yes! We have to find a big silver one! Just like the lock!"

Blaise ran to the two, handing them each a broom.

"I think these will help! Be careful, guys!"

"Don't worry, this will be just like old times, won't it, Harry?" Draco grinned.

"Yeah, catching fairies out in the gardens! Let's go, Draco!" And off they went, looking for the elusive silver key. However, Harry had always been good at spotting things others missed.

"It's over here, Draco! Let's try Fairy Catcher #4!"

"Gotcha!" said Draco and flew upward as Harry chased the key toward his ascending friend.

"I've got it!" crowed Draco, flying back towards the ground as Harry touched down.

"Well," said Harry, "we'll have to tell Tom that we weren't wasting our time, now won't we?"

And with the help of the battered key, they walked in to the next room.

---------------------------------------

Omitto- to omit

Vestio- to clothe, to dress

Aduro- to set fire

A/N: Oh, aren't I the mean one? Truthfully, it's late, and I'm posting this tomorrow, which will be today by the time you most likely read this. First year is getting near its end, and something big is going to happen! Bum bum bum!!! Sorry if the chapter seems a bit odd, but I like just ate an entire

pumpkin pie by myself along with other high sugar things. Blaise is just too much fun to not have psychotic.

(November 28, 2003)

EDIT: Sorry this took a while. Everytime I go to update, the damn site isn't letting me. That and University's being a damn nazi, and I can not wait for this semester to just end. Four more weeks…


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: None here.

Disclaimer: Harry doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I only own Amelia and Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes. Oh, and I do use some of the same techniques Rowling uses with some fun lines I always enjoyed, so please don't sue me! I need all the money I can get for my student ambassador trip!

Parseltongue will be "..."

Chapter 10: Falling Mirrors and Crystal Sleepers

------------------------------------------

Torches fllared up around them as the three Slytherins entered the room, which revealed a scene rather like a battlefield.

"It's a chessboard," murmured Blaise, stepping forward and looking across the room. "And it looks like we'll have to play across to get by. Harry, don't you know how to shrink these, or something?"

Harry shook his head.

"Not on the level one would need for this. We're going to have to go about this the legit way, unfortunately. Is anyone here good at chess?"

Blaise's camo-covered face broke into a large grin and jumped up and down with her hand in the air.

"Me! Me! I'm really good at chess! I beat Weasley twice!"

Draco moaned.

"Blaise is the only one that would be excited about this, Harry. What happened to the quiet girl at the beginning of this year?"

"Shut up, Draco, and take the place of the castle! Harry, you be the bishop, and I'll be a knight!"

The game was difficult and intense. It was like wizard chess with the pieces destroying those that were taken. Blaise had to save her comrades several times from being taken. She looked around the current board and at the queen.

"I have to be taken."

"What are you talking about, Blaise?" yelled Draco, looking around a black pawn to see his firend atop the great granite horse.

"I have to be taken. I'm going to move forward and let the queen take me. When she does, Harry, you move forward and checkmate the king. Don't worry about me!"

The other two could only watch as their friend moved to the appropriate space and as the queen knocked her into the wall. It was with shaking legs that Harry moved forward and checkmated the king. Draco turned in Blaise's direction, but Harry grabbed his arm and pulled him in the other direction.

"Come on, Draco! I know I'll need your help! She'll be fine!"

With a concerned look at their fallen friend, the two ran into the next room and stopped dead at the wide rug at the entrance to the room..

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Is this Professor Lupin's trap?"

"I guess so."

The room was enormous, with a high ceiling and marble floor tiles. The two began to step forward, but no sooner had Draco layed his foot down on one of the steps that it crumbled under his feet, falling into a dark abyss. The blonde let out a scream and stumbled back onto the rug.

"Alright, Draco. We're gonna run for the door. See? It's right there across from us."

Draco turned wide-eyed to Harry.

"You think I'm gonna run across that?! I nearly fell!"

Harry rolled his eyes.

"We'll just have to run really fast, now won't we? Just to be safe, however, let's put shield charms on ourselves. Lupin was bound to put up some curses, and we won't have time to stop and fight them."

Each cast their own "Declino!" shield spell, and they ran. Sure enough, hexes and curses of all kinds flew at them as they ran towards the door, the floor crumbling from beneath their feet. Harry fired an unlocking spell at the door as they approached and it flew open just in time for them to scramble through.

"That was insane! Are they trying to kill us?!" shrieked Draco in a much higher voice than was natural.

"Generally when you're guarding something, that's what you do to intruders, Draco. What the?!"

For as they stepped through the threshold of the door, flames burst up in front of both the room's doors.

"Great," mumbled Harry, as he and Draco stepped forward and saw the vials of potions and the note. "Uncle Sev just had to do something like this, now didn't he? Well, what does the note say?"

Draco read out:

Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,

One among us seven will let you move ahead,

Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine,

Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.

Choose, unless you wish to stay forever more,

To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;

Second, different are those that stand on either end,

But if you would move onwards, neither is yor friend;

Third, you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf or giant hold death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.

"Logic, it has to be logic, doesn't it?" said Harry, but Draco was smiling in the way when he knew an answer to something in class.

"Lucky I'm so good at logic, and that Blaise isn't the one with you right now," he said and began going up and down the lines. After about ten minutes, he let out a very unMalfoyish whoop.

"Alright, I've got it! The rounded bottle down here on the right will set us back, and the smallest one will send you through to the next room!"

Harry eyed the bottles.

"Draco-"

"I know, Harry," sighed Draco, picking up the rounded bottle. "You have to go on ahead. Besides," he smiled, "You know more curses than even the seventh years. You're the right one to go."

Harry nodded and added, "Go and revive Blaise. Use the broomsticks from the key room to get through the trapdoor and past Fluffy, and remember to pick up my harp! Go find Snape and lead him down here. If Tom or someone's down here already, we don't want a Light supporter on our hands."

"Be careful, Harry." With that, Draco drank the bottle down and headed back to the collapsing floor room, casting a shield charm as he went. Harry picked up the tiny bottle.

"Well, let's get this over with," said Harry, and he drank down the little bottle in one gulp. Feeling as though ice water had just been injected into his veins, he quickly stepped through the flames to the next room.

As his eyes adjusted to the amount of light, a large chamber began to come into focus, and there at the end of the stretch were two figures dueling, curses flying every which way dangerously close to the Mirror of Erised, a loud din of chunks of wall and ceiling hitting the floor as spells collided into solid masses. Harry cautiously proceeded forward until he could see the two duelers, and he sweeled in fear.

"Tom!"

Sure enough, there was Tom, currently dueling the headmaster. Tom didn't even look around as the battle quickly forced Harry to the other side, standing with his back right next to the mirror. The headmaster spoke in a loud, dangerous voice filled with loathing.

"Tom, you never should have let Harry come to school if you wanted to keep your existence a secret!"

Tom growled and yelled back, firing a curse, "I would never have let him attend anywhere else, even if you are the headmaster, you manipulative old fool!" He looked ever so quickly at Harry.

"Harry, run now! I'll hold him off! Run, now!"

He never saw the green light or hear the headmaster say those awful words; all Harry saw was Tom's surprised face and his body falling to the floor, collapsing on the hard stone. Unfortunately, that was the last thing Harry saw. The Mirror of Erised, off balanced by the blasts of spells, finally tilted and came crashing down on the Dark Heir.

--------------------------------

Harry stood standing in darkness, looking around and shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess I'm dead. At least now I can see Tom."

Almost at once Harry heard a slight laugh.

"You won't see me on the other side, Harry."

Harry turned around, and there stood Tom, and Harry rushed forward and threw his arms around Tom, shaking his head and looking up into the flaming red eyes.

"But Tom! He hit you with the Killing Curse! I saw you fall!"

"Harry, I'm immortal," chuckled Tom, patting the eleven year old on the head much like an older brother, "Don't worry. My spirit was ripped from my body, but it still exists; you might well have died from our connection through the scar if I had truly died. I will come back, Harry, you know, and when that day comes, we will rule, Serpent Brothers locked forever in our dark world."

The world was becoming lighter around the two, however, and some force was pulling Harry back towards the real world. Harry just managed to get off a question.

"Why did you go after the stone, Tom?" Harry asked, and Tom replied, though it was hard to hear through the swirling whirlwind.

"For you, Harry. For you. I'll tell you one day. It's time for you to return to your friends. Remember, don't kill Dumbledore; play along with him until I come back. You can pull it off."

And the dream Tom disappeared, and Harry woke up.

-

"Harry! Harry, are you all right?"

"Of course he's not, Malfoy!"

"Shut up, Granger!"

"Amelia, he's up, he's up!"

"You shake me one more time, psychotic girl, and I swear..."

"Ouch! Amelia bit me!"

"You deserved it Blaise. Poor snake being shaken."

"Be quiet, Draco!"

Harry finally had enough.

"ALL OF YOU! BE QUIET!"

That shut them up.. for all of three seconds. Then Blaise jumped on him. Harry noticed she still had on her commando outfit, though fortunately someone had managed to clean the stuff off her face.

"Harry! We were so worried about you!" she squeeked, squeezing him hard, and Harry desperately tried to push her off.

"Ouchie, ouchie, ouchies!" yelled Harry, and Hermione pulled Blaise off while Draco shook his head.

"Blaise," Draco began, "Here's a question for you: If a huge mirror fell on top of you, shattered on you, and cut you up, would you appreciate someone jumping on you?"

While Blaise thought about it, Harry said, "What? What happened?"

"Well, we had just gotten through the trapdoor when we found Professor Snape coming towards us. We didn't even have to tell him. He just took Blaise's broomstick and went down the trapdoor. Next thing we knew, he was hovering you on a stretcher towards the Hospital Wing. You were pretty cut up; apparently that mirror fell right on top of you. And Dumbledore was levitating... he was levitating Tom's body after Snape."

Harry sat up quickly, never minding the fact he accidentally tore some wounds back open along his back and was beginning to bleed.

"Where is Tom's body?"

"Harry," began Hermione in a voice clearly meant to change the course off the conversation, but he let out a very real growl and asked again. She pointed at a bed with curtains drawn around it, nervously looking around for a sign of the matron. Harry got out of bed shakily and crossed the distance deftly, a little trail of blood following him, and pulled back the curtains.

"Oh, Tom..." There lay Tom, his red eyes shut, and black hair still slightly curling at the ends. He looked simply as though in sleep. Harry felt moisture on his face and realized that for the first time in many years, he was crying, and he couldn't stand the weakness of it.

"Draco, give me my wand."

"Harry, he's gone, you can't do-"

"My wand, please, Draco!"

Draco handed Harry his wand. The wand which was the brother of the yew wand lying on the bedside. Harry pocketed Tom's wand and pointed his own wand at Tom's serene body, whispering silently through the tears, "Crystallinus Converto." A huge shimmering glow descended on the bed where Tom Riddle's body slept in death...

And now where Tom's full-grown body had lain was now a small crystal figure of Tom, seemingly in an everlasting sleep. Harry pocketed it and put a non-shattering charm on it and Tom's wand, crawling back into bed.

"I'm going to kill Dumbledore for this, even if I have to wait for years," Harry said quite plainly, eyes dancing with lightning as he looked out at nothing. Draco put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Before you kill him, you might want to know what he's planning to do with you so you can slow out his death a bit more."

"What's he doing? Surely nothing worse than killing Tom?"

"It seems your mother has a sister, and you'll be going to live with her and her family this summer. You know what's worse? They're a bunch of magic-hating Muggles! I eavesdropped on Snape when he was talking to McGonagall about them. They hate anything unusual in any way, shape, or form. Snape said they nearly beat him out of their house after he told them about your arrival this summer. Bad luck."

Harry banged his bandaged his against the wall and one could see a patch of new red appearing in the white. Hermione scoffed while Blaise went to go get Madam Pomfrey to fix up the self-destructive Harry.

"Really, what's so bad about Muggles?" asked Hermione. Harry just groaned.

"Hermione! No magic! I can't get away with magic! I didn't grow up in a Muggle fashion! I need to figure out a way! Books! I need books! To the library!"

And before anyone could stop him, Harry jumped out of the bed and ran out of the Hospital Wing,

just as Madam Pomfrey walked in to check on him, and she went chasing out the door after her patient. Several loud noises and bangs were heard from the hallway, and a minute later Madam Pomfrey came in levitating an unconscious Harry. One could make out a very suspicious lump on his head, as though he were hit with something to knock him out, but no one dared bring it up to the tiny nurse. Snape came in a moment later, and from the smirk on his face, he had to have seen all the action.

"Why was Harry running out of the Hospital Wing?" he asked Draco, turning to the blonde boy as Madam Pomfrey finally fixed up all the reopened wounds, grumbling about Harry and "diversionary tactics."

"He was attempting to make it to the library to look up ways of using magic at his residence this summer. You didn't have any luck trying to keep Harry for the summer, either?"

Snape shook his head.

"Dumbledore won't let him stay with anyone but the Dursley's. Some sort of ancient protective magic. Apparently, he thinks all the Deatheaters are going to kill off Harry to have one of them become the next Dark Lord. It's completely ridiculous."

"Aren't you dropping him off at the house?" smirked Draco, knowing full well the reaction he would get from the teacher.

"Oh, yes," sneered Severus, "and won't that be pleasant. We've already contacted them, and they weren't at all happy with the situation to put it lightly. 'Oh yes, we're just going to let you harbor the next Dark Lord while all his followers are supposedly going to come after him to knock him off! Not bloody likely! Perfectly respectable people don't watch over freaks like you!' Imbecilic neckless Muggle. Harry's not going to have a fun summer."

--------------------------------

Declino- avoid, deflect

A/N: Don't worry about Tom sniff sniff. He'll be fine. Dark Harry at the Dursley's for the summer? Oh no! And what about the Deatheaters? Are they going to attempt to kill off Harry? Stupid old Dumbledore! I never liked the guy much... And don't worry; we'll find out about the stone because Harry's going to have a ... pleasant... conversation with Dumbledore.

(November 29, 2003)

EDIT: Yay, college is over for the semester! These past three weeks have been hell folks! Between finishing all my classes and dealing with the year anniversary of my dad being killed, yeah, pretty crappy time of the year for updating! But hey, I got this chapter up and a new one on my other story 'Power of the Fallen' too! Hurray!

(May 9, 2007)


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: None here.

Disclaimer: Harry doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I only own Amelia and Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes. Oh, and I do use some of the same techniques Rowling uses with some fun lines I always enjoyed, so please don't sue me! I need all the money I can get for my student ambassador trip!

Parseltongue will be "..."

Chapter 11: MOF's and Desino Deprehensio

------------------------------------------

Harry grumbled under his breath as Snape walked the young heir up to the headmaster's office later the next day. This was NOT his idea of a fun time after exams; he should be with his friends outside, maybe lazing under the shade of a tree or wandering around. He did NOT want to visit the senile old man, he did NOT want to lay eyes on this elder, he did NOT want to be tempted so eagerly with his murder.

'Ah, yes, the murder,' thought Harry, as Snape took him behind the statue of a gargoyle and they moved up some revolving stairs. 'I must plan out the murder, let's see, slowly, yes, slow is what is needed in this case...'

"Harry?"

Harry looked up, startled. It was Severus that had spoken and was looking at him right in the eyes. A small but distinguishable smirk ran across the man's face, both pausing just at the top of the stairs.

"Harry, I know what you're thinking, and at this moment, I would advise you against any attempts."

"Uncle Sev, you won't desert me now that Tom's gone will you? I mean, surely by now, every Deatheater outside of school knows."

Severus rested his hands on Harry's shoulders, and he said, "No, Harry. I won't desert you. But others might be a bit different in their views. Malfoy and a few others like Nott are still loyal to you, but the rest of them have turned their loyalties aside. That's why Dumbledore is sending you to the Dursley's this summer. As much as it disgusts me, Dark magic wards will be placed on the house to ensure you a little safety along with a few other measures I can't reveal."

Harry sighed and moaned, "Can I not see the headmaster now? I mean, you just told me escape from the Muggles will be impossible this summer, so do I really have to go in there?"

Severus nodded, and Harry hung his head as he was led into the office. Looking up, he was only slightly impressed with the furnishings; he expected this kind of setting for a head of the school, but his true interest lay in a beautiful thing preening itself on a golden stand.

"A phoenix... wow..." he murmured.

"His name is Fawkes, if you'd like to know, Harry," came Dumbledore's voice as he entered from a side door and sat down behind his desk. He steepled his fingers and rested his bearded chin on his thumbs.

Harry gave out a loud sigh and sat down in front of the wide desk, Severus taking the seat next to him. He refused to meet the old wizard's bright, blue eyes, for Tom had warned him the man wouldn't be past using Legilimency… for the greater good, of course. A sly smile crept up on Harry's face; he might as well start out this little meeting on an interesting note.

"So, the high and mighty Light wizard had to resort to Avada Kedavra when his opponent was distracted. I must say, I am not impressed."

The MOF (Manipulative Old Fool; Harry had taken to calling him this shortened name) raised a heavy eyebrow ever so slightly, though Harry could swear he heard an angry little noise emerge from the old man's throat.

"Well, Harry, I was using any means necessary to rid the world of a threat to it. Is there anything wrong with that?"

Harry snorted, and Snape watched on, completely out of the conversation.

"Well _headmaster_, it is in bad taste to do it in such a way. Besides," and at this Harry's smile widened and he looked up, "Isn't it an Unforgivable, according to your laws? What stops me reporting it to the Ministry right now?"

"Well, as much as I know you would love to see me in an Azkaban cell going madder than I already am, I know you won't do it."

Harry outright laughed and retorted, "My friend Blaise is mad, Dumbledore; you're just senile. There's a difference. Now, Severus was saying-"

"Professor Snape, Harry."

It was Harry's turn to quirck an eyebrow and say in that commanding persona suddenly, "Pardon me, sir, but perhaps you forget me. I may be one of your former supporters' son, but what I am now couldn't be any more different. My dear Tom already had the older Deatheaters swear allegiance to me, allowing me to refer as I want to them. I call him Professor in front of the other students as a courtesy so as to retain the students' respect and prevent suspicion for him. However, in private I can call him anything I choose; he is, after all, my Severus, my Uncle Sev, and my most loyal follower. Back onto the subject, why wouldn't I turn you in to Azkaban?"

Dumbledore chuckled ever so slightly.

"Because listening from my other room through its thin walls, I could hear Severus warn you not to attempt anything. I know you want to kill me, but that's impossible. Maybe when you're older, child."

Harry, in a darkening expression barely visible, could feel the blood running rampant in his veins and feel his magic flowing off of him freely, as though in ripples. The swanlike phoenix woke up, startled by the Dark magic aura flooding the room, and began to sing, trying to dispel the unwelcome magic. Harry smiled while only giving off a little shudder.

"Your songbird, sir," began Harry, "can sing for me anytime he wants to try to ward off the Dark. His music produces the most exhilarating little shivers which I really enjoy, honestly. Do you need to tell me anything you know Severus hasn't already told me, sir?"

"Have a pleasant summer."

"Oh, touché, headmaster. Right to the heart. See you next year. I'll make sure to write you a message," said Harry, amused though slightly ticked, and Severus escorted him from the office.

------------------------------------

"So, Harry, are you going to send me any letters this summer?"

"Of course, Draco. But you'll have to send one to me first, seeing as I have no messenger."

"What about me?"

"Yes, Blaise, I'll write to you, too. You need to send me a messenger, too."

"And what about me, Harry? Am I accompanying you to the Muggle house?"

"Yes you are, which reminds me; I'm going to have to put a charm on you to hide you from them, most likely."

"That's fine, Harry."

The conversation had been going on for a while. The Entrance Hall was packed with people and luggage, all waiting to leave for the train to take them home. Well, except for Harry; he'd be personally escorted home by Severus when everyone left. It was so noisy, Harry could get away with Parseltongue without anyone noticing, not that he cared. He was going to miss his friends this summer, though, and was sad to see them go. He fingered the harp and played a few strings. Outside, a light drizzle of rain started. Remembering and smiling rather wickedly, he pulled out his wand and informed the other two to do so as well.

"I finally figured it out," said Harry, pulling the other two closer and making a tight circle with all three sitting on their luggage. The inside of the circle was blocked from any outside eyes.

Blaise asked, "What? What did you figure out?"

"Remember in the Hospital Wing when I said I'd find a way to get past not using magic? Well, I looked it up. In any residence where an underaged witch or wizard is present, the Ministry puts up a charm to report any underage magic. It must have taken me at least two days in the library to find a book of the spells they use in such things."

"Let me guess," smirked Draco, twirling his wand so a fine trickle of sparks came out, "You did figure out how to get past this charm or at least counter it."

"Right in one, Draco. It really is a simple spell; it's just not a very commonly known one. Here, give me your wands you two."

The silver and black haired girl and the blonde boy gave up their wands, and Harry took them eagerly.

"Now, the way the underage charm works is that it hones in on your wand and you when you arrive at where you're staying and follows you around until you go back to your school. However, if you use this spell on yourself and your wand before you leave school, it will block out the charm until you get back to school. I'm surprised Fred and George haven't discovered it yet," he added thoughtfully, and pointed his wand at Draco's wand first.

"Desino deprehensio!"

After the small shimmer, he repeated it on Blaise's wand and then on the two people themselves.

"Aren't you placing it on yourself, Harry?"

Harry shook his head, grinning," I already did it the moment I woke up this morning. Now you're free to use any magic you want over the summer. As long as I don't use any Dark magic at the Dursley's, I can still use any number of jinxes and such. At least I'll have protection."

Hagrid now appeared in the entryway and informed everyone that they can now go down to the train. A great bustle arose at this news as people began crowding towards the door, eager to get home to their families. Harry felt what seemed a bit of jealousy of these others; they have the company of ones they care for for the summer. He clenched his fingers around the little crystal figure Tom in his pocket painfully.

Blaise quickly hurried out after Draco but not before calling out, "See you over the summer, Harry!" and Draco shouted back, "We'll get together for school supplies later, alright?"

"See you guys! Have fun!"

And he was alone in the empty Entrance Hall, left sitting on his trunk. He sighed and hissed after a few minutes.

"Hey Amelia."

Amelia, poked her head out of a sleeve and slithered out onto Harry's crossed legs, slightly stretching up to look at him better.

"Yes?"

"We will be leaving soon, so if you want to hunt, you better do so now."

"Don't worry. I already had a Sickle from your bag earlier, I'm fine."

Harry nearly fell off his trunk, and never noticed the other figure approaching him rapidly.

"A Sickle? But Amelia, you shouldn't eat those! You won't be able to digest it!"

"Actually, my kind prefer food of silver rather than flesh. It gives our scales such a lovely sheen, and we can better use our magic."

Harry looked down smiling and said, "Well, you should have told me when I got you! You can have all you want."

"Harry?"

Harry looked around and found his favourite Professor looking down on him and his companion.

"Hey, I know that snake. He was my pet for most of second term, and then one day just disappeared."

"_HER_ name is Amelia, and she's my familiar, actually. I had her spy on you to get information on that stone, and she did prove quite helpful."

"How could you get her to do that?" queried Severus.

"I'm a Parselmouth, didn't Tom ever tell you?"

"No... It seems you were truly meant to be his son, Harry. Tell the little spy to get back wherever you hide her for school, because we're about to go."

"Come on, Amelia. You heard Uncle Sev."

"See you at your relatives' home, Harry." And she slid in around his torso, as she had now reached almost three feet in length over the year. Severus looked on amusedly. Harry got off his trunk, Severus put a Levitation charm on it, and Harry followed Severus outside, looking at their transportation and filling with awe.

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A/N: Again, I'm mean. Sorry this will get up so late. It was my dad's birthday and my friend's mother's birthday today. I helped my friend bake a cake (the most luscious, mouthwatering chocolate cake you've ever tasted) and then had to contend with homework. But I got it up, and that's all that matters. Stupid MOF, die, die, die!!!...

EDIT: I can't remember if I've already mentioned this, but when I first began writing this story before posting the first time, there was no definite information on whether Blaise was a girl or boy. ) Um, yes

(December 3, 2003)


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: None here.

Disclaimer: Harry doesn't belong to me, blah, blah, blah. I only own Amelia and Ebony-Crested Dragon snakes. Oh, and I do use some of the same techniques Rowling uses with some fun lines I always enjoyed, so please don't sue me! I need all the money I can get for my student ambassador trip!

**Parseltongue will be "..."**

Chapter 12: There's Your Rules and Then There's MY Rules

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"Uncle Sev," said Harry, "Are those what I think they are?"

Severus walked up to the nearest one and patted it on its dragonish face.

"Yes. It's a thestral. Luckily, Hagrid has a domestic stock of them here. They pull the carriages for the second years and up. Come on, we haven't got all day."

Now that Harry looked behind the two thestrals, he noticed that the one Severus had patted was strapped to a small chariot-like device, into which Severus was now loading Harry's trunk. The other one stood quite by itself. Harry patted the lone one's face and spoke to it.

"You know, I always knew I'd eventually see you, but I never thought it would be under this kind of situation."

Severus now came over to Harry and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and said, looking at the creature, "It really is both a gift and a curse to be able to see these creatures, isn't it? Well, we might as well get going."

"How will we, Uncle Sev?"

"That one with your trunk will follow this one which we're both going to mount. Here, let me give you a hand. You are frightfully short."

"Hey!"

Severus did the rare act of laughing at Harry's indignity at the situation, and lifted the midget onto the thestral. The older man then got up in front and hooked his legs around the wing joints. Harry scooted up to be able to wrap his arms around Severus' waist.

Speaking to the creatures directly, Severus said, "Both of you take us to Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, if you will." And in a sidenote he said, "Hold on, Harry."

The creatures bent down slightly and in a great rush, they took to the skies in a mighty accent, wings beating hard until they reached a point where no Muggle looking up could distinguish them. The air up there was cold, even in summer, and Harry buried his face in the robes in front of him, lifting his head every once in a while to look down on the magnificent view. Really, he should ask Tom for a thestral if they ever reunited; it was not a bad way to travel, really, after you got used to the cold air on your face. They were covering ground quickly, much more quickly than the Hogwarts Express. He'd probably get to the Dursley's in time for lunch. He groaned, remembering why he was flying through the air. He'd have to make the best of it, and at least he had magic.

They had been traveling perhaps two hours, and Severus, who hadn't spoken the entire time, now turned his head and yelled over the wind to Harry, "Hold on, these beasts descend quickly. When we land, get off as soon as possible. We don't want to appear to be floating in thin air."

"Can't Muggles see thestrals?"

"Yes, the same rules apply, though; they must have seen a death."

Barely ten seconds after they stopped this little conversation, Harry felt as though his stomach was suddenly in his chest. The thestrals were diving at a terrifying rate, almost like they were really falling more than anything. He felt himself let out a small gasp and clutched his arms tighter around his professor; there was no control like when one was on a broom to it. The clatter of hoofs hitting the ground joined the sounds of the wheels from the cargo chariot. Harry, still a bit dazed from the descent, was pulled down by Severus, and they both looked up around at the neighbourhood and at Number 4 Privet Drive.

Grabbing Harry's trunk from the chariot, he ordered the thestrals to remain where they were, and Harry watched in astonishment as Severus opened his trunk right on the Dursley's front lawn.

"What are you doing?"

He watched the man pull up and head towards him, a brush in hand. He was sneering slightly.

"Believe me, Harry. These Dursley's are neat freaks, and your hair will aggravate them in its normal state, let alone right now." And before Harry could object, the brush was quickly being run through his hair, swiftly ridding the head of hair of any knots or snags. Within a few minutes, his hair was back to its slightly disheveled self. Harry straightened his own robes, as he had no Muggle clothes, and dragged his trunk to the front door following the professor. Harry watched as the man gritted his teeth, and he pushed a little button next to the door.

'It must be one of those :door bells: Hermione told me about,' thought Harry, as they waited for the door to open. He thanked Hermione silently for giving him a quick crash course in the ways and objects in a Muggle house in the Hospital Wing while recovering.

Harry was abruptly stirred out of his thoughts as the door swung open, revealing a large man. Harry noted the purple face and assumed something was wrong; surely Muggles weren't supposed to be this colour.

"Well, come in then, you two," growled then man, looking around outside, apparently not seeing the thestrals. "Don't want the neighbours noticing. Hurry up, now!"

Severus helped Harry with his trunk, bringing it just inside the door to be dealt with later. The purple man was talking again.

"Into the living room with you two."

Harry looked imploringly at Severus, eyes pleading not to be left here. Severus just shook his head and led him into what apparently was the living room in this house. It certainly was not like the massive ones at the chateau, but it looked moderately comfortable, and Harry sat down on the couch with his professor.

"Stay here."

Harry glared at the man as he left the room and mumbled, "Treating us like common animals." Snape just stared stonily around the room, obviously remembering when he had come here to deliver the message about Harry's arrival. A few minutes later, the Muggle returned with two more, and the three stood in front of the couch several feet away.

"I," spoke the Muggle, "am Vernon Dursley, your apparent _uncle_, boy." He put special emphasis on uncle as though disgusted with the term. He then pointed at a bony, horse-faced woman who was staring at Harry in what almost looked like fear.

"This is your Aunt Petunia. She was your mother's sister."

Harry shrugged his shoulders and now turned his attentions on the largest boy he had ever seen. He masked his astonishment at this specimen of Muggle; surely, it was against physical laws to be able to walk without aid when you were that wide! He surely had to turn sideways to get through that front door.

"This is our son, Dudley Dursley. Now, boy, we are going to get some rules straight. We don't want you showing anything of your abnormality around here. You will eat only what we give you. You will not show any disrespect to me or my family. You will not open that wretched trunk of yours. You will be grateful for us taking you in. Is that clear?"

Harry nodded, though it was with a strong urging from Severus, and asked, "Where will I be staying, then? That cupboard under the stairs I saw?"

Vernon shot daggers and spat, "If we had any choice in the matter, you would! However, you will be staying in Dudley's second bedroom."

"Now Dursley, let me tell you a few things so you don't make a possibly fatal mistake," spoke Severus in a silky, dangerous tone, standing from the couch and motioning at Harry. "Now, I told you on my last... pleasant... trip here about the Dark Lord killing the Potters. Well, this boy has been raised by the Dark Lord and well versed in Dark magic of all kinds. He regrets having to stay here more than you regret having to take him in. I warn you three, even the most patient wizard can lose control of their magic when angry. I urge you not to drive him to that point unless you want to be turned inside out."

The Muggles laughed, and the boy known as Dudley asked in a sarcastic voice, "Oh, so who did the freak turn inside out?"

Harry's face broke into a rather unnerving smile and said, "It was a fifth year named Kursbrough, and it took them a week to figure out how to set him right again, if you must know."

That shut them up.

Severus used the horrified silence to speak again.

"Fortunately for you, underaged wizards and witches can't use magic over the summer, so you run a considerably lower risk of getting killed, but it's at your own risk to anger him."

"Now hold on a minute," said Petunia. "We can't let him outside the house in those- those robes! He needs proper clothes!"

Snape sneered and added, "A package will be arriving by owl with Muggle clothes for him. No need to worry your head over it. Now, I must be going."

He turned to a brooding Harry, who looked up at Severus like he had betrayed him. He whispered, "Harry, it's for your own good. The Deatheaters will be hard pressed to find this place; they would never expect you to stay with Muggles. I dare say you'll have an interesting summer. Take care, and stay out of trouble." He gave Harry a quick hug and left. The clatter of hooves could be shortly heard afterwards.

Once he was sure that Severus was gone, he nonchalantly stood up and found the kitchen. He called, "Hey Vernon, where is something I can eat? I'm starving!"

Three people quickly arrived in the kitchen at these words, and both adults looked furiously at Harry who was munching on a bag of crisps he had found, seemingly delighted in this Muggle snack food.

"BOY! Put those down!"

"Why should I?"

"I've already told you, you freak, you will eat only what we give you!" bellowed the now red-faced man.

"Oh, but now the tables are turned."

"What do you mean?" asked Petunia.

"I actually can use magic, and I would advise you not to tempt me into hexing you," said the boy, smiling while popping another crisp into his mouth.

"I thought that other freak said you couldn't!" said Dudley. Harry was surprised this boy had even been listening at all to Uncle Sev.

"Fortunately for me, I've discovered a way around it."

"Prove it then, boy!"

Harry pulled his wand out from under his sleeve and said, "Don't say I didn't give you proper warning." He pointed at Dudley. "Caecus!"

It took only moments for the azure colour to hit Dudley's eyes and almost instantly the boy was screaming.

"Help me! Help me! I can't see! Mum!!"

"What have you done?!" shrieked Petunia, wrapping arms around her enormous son, looking at Harry in terror. Harry shrugged his shoulders, as though it were nothing, and spoke the counter spell.

"It was a simple Blinding Charm. Quite useful in duels, I'm sure. Do you still doubt I can use magic?"

Furious, the three shook their heads. Harry grinned.

"Good. Then I'll tell you MY rules. You do not bother me; you do not tease or in any way insult me or Amelia; you do not touch Amelia-"

"Who is this Amelia? We're not having another of your kind in our house!" shouted Vernon. Harry called to Amelia, scaring the Dursley's with his hissing and spitting without breath.

"Hey Amelia, come out and have some fun. Come out my collar and look intimidating."

"This sounds fun. Here I come!"

Amelia came out Harry's collar and wrapped around his shoulders, looking at the Dursley's, spines laid back in mock anger and hissing. Of course, Harry heard the hissing as laughter, but the Dursley's took it as a threat and backed up.

"This is Amelia."

"H-How did you just do that?" asked Dudley, eyes wide.

"I'm a Parselmouth. I can understand and speak to snakes. Now back to rules. You do not bother me; you do not tease or in any way insult me or Amelia; you do not touch Amelia because I've given her permission to bite you if you do; I am allowed outside no matter what I'm wearing; I am allowed to wander around as much as I please; you will show me how to do anything I do not know how to do; I did not grow up knowing Muggle ways. Any breach of these rules, and I assure you, I will use magic, and you will regret it. Is that clear?"

Harry laughed inwardly at the seething faces of Petunia and Vernon as they nodded.

"Good," Harry grinned, putting on a happy voice. "I think we're going to have a good summer!"

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(December 4-5, 2003)

EDIT: Just changed a few things, not much though. Sorry for not posting in a while; I really have no excuse since these chapters are already written out. I have a terrible grip on time in terms of days and weeks though. Oh yeah, and I need to go to my university's psychological assessment center, since my friends are sure I have schizotypal personality disorder. Fun!


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